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JUL    S  1912 


Dwisioa  :BS2.4Z0 
Section    i    /.  H  O-^ 


THE    LIFE    OF    JEHOSHUA 

THE    PROPHET    OF    NAZARETH 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


MAGIC: 
WHITE    AND    BLACK 

Or,The  Science  of  Finite 
and  Infinite  Life 

Crown  8vo,  6s. 


THE  LIFE  OF  PARACELSUS 
AND  THE  SUBSTANCE  OF 
HIS  TEACHINGS 

Post  Svo.  7s.  6d. 


THE 


LIFE  OF  JEHOSHUA 


THE  PROPHET  OF  NAZARETH 


An    Occult   Study  and  a   Key    to   the   Bible 


CONTAINING    THE    HISTORY    OF    AN    INITIATE 


./'        BY 
FRANZ    HARTMANN,    M.D. 

AUTHOK   OF   '  MAGIC,  WHITE  AND   BLACK,'    '  THE   LIFE   OF  PARACELSUS,  AND   THE   SUBSTANCE 
OF   HIS  TEACHINGS,'   'SECRET    SYMBOLS   OF  THE   ROSICRUCIANS,'   ETC. 


iltodken ! 


LONDON 

KEGAN  PAUL,  TRENCH,  TRUBNER  &  CO.,  Limited 
1909 


Copyright  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


PRINTED    BY 

SPOTTISWOODE  AND  CO.    LTD.,   LONDON 

COLCHESTER   AND   ETON 


PREFACE 

The  only  object  of  the  following  pages  is  to  aid  in 
dispelling  the  mists  which  for  many  centuries  have 
been  gathering  around  the  person  of  the  supposed 
founder  of  Christianity,  and  which  have  prevented 
mankind  from  obtaining  a  clear  view  of  the  true 
Redeemer,  who  is  not  to  be  found  in  history  nor  in 
external  forms,  but  who  can  only  be  found  within  the 
interior  temple  of  the  soul  by  him  in  whom  his 
presence  becomes  manifest. 

It  must  be  left  to  the  intelligent  reader  to  decide 
whether  the  accounts  given  in  this  book  may  be 
accepted  literally  as  historical  facts,  or  whether  they 
are  intended  to  represent  eternal  and  ever-occurring 
processes  going  on  within  the  inner  consciousness  of 
man.  The  only  key  to  the  understanding  of  the 
truth  is  the  power  to  perceive  it ;  for  the  truth 
teaches  itself, — not  by  the  light  of  argumentation, — 
but  by  its  own  light,  and  it  teaches  nothing  else  but 
itself. 

All  that  the  reading  of  books  can  possibly  accom- 
plish, is  to  aid  us  in  bringing  the  truth  which  exists 
within  ourselves  to  our  own  understanding,  and  to 
drive  away  the  clouds  of  erroneous  conceptions  which 
may  keep  us  from  knowing  ourselves. 


vi  PREFACE 

There  is  nothing  to  prevent  man  from  rising  into 
the  higher  regions  of  thought  where  the  hght  of  the 
truth  exists,  except  his  cUnging  to  erroneous  opinions ; 
there  is  no  way  of  driving  away  the  darkness  except  by 
the  diffusion  of  light. 

THE   AUTHOR. 


CONTENTS 


FAGI 


Dedication ix 

Introduction 1 

The  True  History  of  Christ  (An  Allegory)          .     17 

'Jehovah' 21 

Nazareth 30 

Egypt 40 

The  Mysterious  Brotherhood  .  .  .  .51 
The  Mysterious  Brotherhood  (continued)  .  .  65 
The  Higher  Degrees     .        .        .        .        .        .74 

The  Wisdom  Religion 81 

The  Temptation 86 

The  Sermon  upon  the  Mount 98 

The  Doctrines  of  the  Christ  Spirit  .         .  109 

Herodias 116 

Jerusalem 126 

The  Great  Renunciation 136 

The  Temple 147 

The  Hero 156 

The  Final  Initiation 170 

The  Church 176 

Conclusion 187 

vii 


DEDICATION 

Eternal  One  !     Thou  self-existent  Cause 

Of  all  existence,   source  of  love  and  light ; 

Thou  universal  uncreated  God, 

In  whom  all  things  exist  and  have  their  being, 

Who  lives  in  all  things  and  all  things  in  Him  ; 

Infinite  art  Thou,  inconceivable 

Beyond  the  grasp  of  finite  intellect ; 

Unknowable  to  all  except  Thyself. 

Nothing  exists  but  Thou,  and  there  is  nothing 

In  which  no  Good  exists ;  Thou  art,  but  we 

Appear  to  be  ;  for  forms  are  empty  nothings. 

If  not  inhabited  by  Thee  ;  they  are 

Thyself  made  manifest.     Addressing  Thee 

We  sin,  because  we  separate  ourselves 

In  thought  from  Thee  who  art  our  very  self ; 

For  we  are  nothing  if  we  are  not  *  Thou,' 

And  Thou  art  '  we '  ;  we  have  no  life  but  Thine, 

No  will  or  thought,  no  love  or  strength  but  Thine, 

Thou  art  our  life,  our  will,  our  mind,  our  all ; 

We  are  in  Thee  and  Thou  in  us ;  Thou  art 

The  '  Father '  and  Thyself  in  us  the  *  Son.' 

Thy  Spirit  fills  the  universe  with  glory 

And  impregnates  all  Nature  with  Thy  power, 

Enabling  her  to  bring  forth  living  forms 

Of  plants  and  trees,  of  animals  and  men ; 

It  fructifies  the  soul  of  man  and  gives 

Birth  to  the  *  Christ,'  the  saviour  of  man, 

Call'd  the  divine  Atma  or  the  '  Lord  on  high,' 


DEDICATION 

The  '  Master,'  He  who  makes  immortal  all 

In  whom  His  presence  is  made  manifest. 

If  He  awakens  in  the  heart  of  man 

To  the  self-consciousness  of  His  existence, 

Then  will  there  be  no  further  death,  for  He 

Is  perfect  and  requires  no  further  change. 

Thus  '  Christ '  is  God  made  manifest  in  Man 

As  man,  and  no  one  can  attain  to  God 

Except  through  Him  ;  for  He  Himself  is  God 

In  Man,  and  He  who  strives  to  find  His  God 

Must  seek  for  Him  in  His  own  holy  temple 

Within  himself  in  Spirit  and  in  Truth. 

To  Him,  the  Christ,  the  God  in  man  we  pray ; 

To  Him  alone,  not  to  external  gods. 

Nor  to  the  spirits  in  the  Astral  Light; 

And  praying  strongly  we  fulfil  our  prayers. 

For  rising  up  to  Him  we  are  Himself, 

And  grant  that  which  we  ask  of  Him  ourselves. 

No  man  knows  God ;  it  is  the  God  in  Man 

Who  knows  Himself  in  him  and  lifts  man  up 

To  the  conception  of  what  is  divine 

In  his  own  nature.     Rising  up  to  Him 

We  come  to  God  through  Christ,  through  God  to  Man, 

And  to  all  nature  in  His  Holy  Spirit. 


INTRODUCTION 

Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era 
a  storm  of  varied  opinions  in  regard  to  the  supposed 
founder  of  what  is  called  '  Christianity '  has  been 
raging  in  the  world  of  mind,  finding  its  expression 
on  the  external  plane  in  deeds  of  violence,  in  innumer- 
able cruelties,  wars,  atrocities,  and  crimes,  such  as 
are  almost  beyond  the  power  of  human  imagination 
to  conceive.  From  the  time  of  the  maniac-emperors, 
when  the  Roman  arenas  were  reddened  by  the  blood 
of  the  Nazarenes,  down  to  the  Middle  Ages,  when 
Christians  had  ceased  to  be  persecuted  and  became 
persecutors  in  their  turn ;  when  the  scum  of  all 
Europe  pillaged  and  plundered  the  inhabitants  of 
the  '  Holy  Land  '  in  the  assumed  name  of  Christ ; — 
down  to  comparatively  modern  times,  when  the  skies 
of  all  European  countries  were  blackened  by  the 
smoke  ascending  from  burning  fagots,  upon  which 
men,  women,  and  children,  suspected  of  heresy,  were 
roasted  to  death  by  those  who  claimed  to  be  the 
followers  of  Him  who  had  taught  the  doctrine  of 
universal  fraternal  love ; — and  still  further  down  to 
our  present  time,  in  which  the  churches  struggle 
to  regain  their  waning  powers  and  wealth — the 
cause    of   all    religious    warfare    has    always  been  a 


2  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

difference  of  opinion  in  regard  to  the  nature  of 
'  Christ' 

While  the  most  fanatical  adherents  of  orthodox 
theology,  entirely  ignoring  the  religious  histories  of 
the  world,  with  its  Manus,  Avatars,  Buddhas,  and 
Saviours  of  mankind,  such  as  are  said  to  have 
appeared  upon  this  globe  millions  of  years  before 
the  advent  of  modern  '  Christianity,'  regard  the 
person  of  him  who  is  called  The  Christ  as  being  the 
'  only  begotten  son '  of  an  extracosmic  creator  of 
the  world,  conceived  in  some  miraculous  manner  by 
a  virgin  of  Palestine,  and  while  they  thus  apply  the 
most  gross  and  sensual  exoteric  explanation  to  a 
beautiful  ancient  myth,  which  hides  a  sublime  and 
eternal  truth;  the  modern  critic  either  denies  that 
such  a  person  as  the  Jesus  of  Nazareth  of  the 
Gospel^  ever  existed,  or  he  sees  in  him  merely  a 
man  of  extraordinary  talents,  a  hero  who  dared 
to  proclaim  what  seemed  to  him  to  be  the  truth; 
a  religious  reformer,  who  died  like  many  others 
for  the  promulgation  of  a  grand  but  impracticable 
idea. 

Some  of  these  critics  are  very  profound  thinkers  ; 
but  they  have  evidently  not  looked  behind  the  veil 
that  divides  the  eternal,  ideal,  but  nevertheless  real 
world  from  the  sensual  world  of  illusions,  wherein  we 
live.  They  were  unacquainted  with  the  constitution 
of  the  '  spiritual '  organism  of  Man,  and  they  could 
only  see  the  mortal  part  of  Jehoshua ;  while  their 
opinions  in  regard  to  his  spiritual  nature  were  based 
upon  speculations  which   may  have  approached  the 


INTRODUCTION  3 

truth  in  proportion  as  they  followed  their  highest 
intuitions. 

Thus  Kant  regarded  him  as  the  ideal  of  human 
perfection  ;  John  Stuart  Mill,  as  a  very  extraordinary 
man  ;  Lord  Amberly,  as  an  *  iconoclastic  idealist ' ; 
Fichte,  as  the  first  teacher  who  revealed  the  unity  of 
Man  with  the  Supreme  Spirit ;  Hegel,  as  an  incar- 
nation of  the  Logos ;  Schelling,  as  a  kind  of  Avatar, 
i.e.  one  of  the  periodical  descents  of  Divinity;  Dr. 
Keim,  as  a  mysterious  man,  whose  glorified  spirit 
inspired  his  disciples  to  attempt  the  reformation  of 
the  world;  Strauss  looks  upon  him  as  a  moral 
reformer,  who  occasionally  stooped  to  imposture  to 
secure  the  confidence  of  his  adherents  ;  Renan,  as 
an  effeminate  idealist,  an  impostor  who  performed 
'  bogus  phenomena ' ;  Schleiermacher,  as  a  man  in 
whom  self-consciousness  was  so  saturated  with  the 
Divine  principle,  that  he  really  became  a  god  incar- 
nate; Anatole  Bembe,  as  a  modern  anarchist  and 
socialist  of  the  most  fiery  kind ;  and  Gerald  Massey, 
who  bases  his  opinions  upon  historical  researches, 
finds  th2it  J ehoshua  Ben-Pandira  was  born  some  120 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  and  that  the  typical 
Christ  of  the  gospels  was  made  up  from  the  features 
of  various  gods. 

It  appears  that  those  who  have  attempted  to 
disprove  the  existence  of  an  historical  personal 
saviour  of  mankind,  have  done  no  serious  harm  to 
the  interest  of  religion ;  because  the  pious  mind 
intuitively  feels  that  the  gospel  accounts,  attributed 
to  the  four  Evangelists,  contain  after  all  a  great  deal 

b2 


4  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

of  truth,  even  if  the  events  which  are  told  therein 
have  never  occurred  in  history;  but  those  who 
attempt  to  base  the  whole  foundation  of  their 
religious  conviction  upon  the  existence  of  an  histor- 
ical Jesus  and  ask  others  to  do  likewise,  may  be 
doing  serious  harm  ;  for  the  belief  in  an  historical 
Jesus  can  after  all  be  merely  a  matter  of  opinion, 
and  a  faith  based  merely  upon  a  possibly  fallacious 
opinion,  having  no  knowledge  for  its  foundation,  rests 
upon  a  very  insecure  basis  indeed.  There  are  very 
many  well-meaning  people  upon  this  earth  who 
imagine  that  it  is  indispensably  necessary  for  one's 
salvation  to  believe  that  a  man  called  Jesus  of 
Nazareth  once  lived  and  died  in  Palestine ;  but  it 
would  be  difficult  to  give  any  intelligible  reason  why 
the  belief  in  such  an  historical  person  should  be 
necessary  for  that  purpose,  or  in  what  way  such  a 
belief  should  differ  in  its  results  from  a  belief  in 
Julius  Caesar,  Aristoteles,  or  any  other  person  in 
history ;  as  all  opinions  in  regard  to  things  of  which 
we  have  no  personal  experience  are  merely  opinions 
and  constitute  no  real  knowledge.  To  believe  in  an 
event  of  which  we  know  nothing  is  to  cling  to  a 
superstition,  even  if  the  event  is  actually  true.  We 
can  have  no  self-knowledge  about  persons  that 
existed  before  we  were  born  ;  but  we  may  at  any 
time  and  at  every  place  realise  the  presence  of  the 
true  saviour,  the  eternal  living  Christ  within  our- 
selves. 

All  attempts  to  explain  intellectually  the  miracles 
and  deeds  attributed  to  the  great  Nazarene,  for  the 


INTRODUCTION  5 

purpose  of  making  it  more  plausible,  that  they  have 
actually  occurred  in  a  literal  sense,  are  therefore 
degrading  to  religion,  and  may  be  looked  upon  as  a 
sacrilege ;  for  they  drag  spiritual  truths  down  to 
gross  material  life ;  they  force  sublime  ideas  into 
narrow  material  forms,  and  destroy  the  beauty  of 
the  ideal  by  causing  it  to  appear  in  a  vulgar  sensual 
shape.  Even  the  most  exalted  virtues  with  which 
a  poet  may  endow  a  personal  saviour  will  never  give 
him  that  lustre  which  shines  around  the  head  of  the 
eternal  and  impersonal  Christ,  and  all  attempts  to 
make  the  beautiful  allegories  of  the  Bible  agree  with 
historical  facts  will  be  unsuccessful,  and  even  appear 
ludicrous  to  the  unprejudiced  and  clear-thinking 
observer.^ 

The  question,  whether  or  not  the  doctrines  of  the 
Bible  are  true,  cannot  be  decided  by  answering  the 
question,  whether  or  not  the  events  described  therein 
have  actually  occurred  in  external  life ;  that  proof 
must  be  sought  in  the  internal  evidence  of  those 
doctrines,  and  this  evidence  will  appear  plain  enough 
as  soon  as  they  are  understood. 

The  vain  attempts  to  prove  rationally  the  possibility 


'  Gerald  Massey  says  :  '  The  worst  foes  of  the  truth  have  ever 
been,  and  still  are,  the  rationalisers  of  the  myths,  such  as  the 
Unitarians.  They  have  assumed  the  human  history  [of  Christ]  as 
the  starting-point  and  accepted  the  existence  of  a  personal  founder 
of  Christianity  as  the  one  initial  and  fundamental  fact.  They  have 
done  their  best  to  harmonise  the  divinity  of  the  mythos  by  discharging 
the  supernatural  and  miraculous  element,  in  order  that  the  narrative 
may  be  accepted  as  history.  Thus  they  have  lost  the  battle  from 
the  beginning  by  fighting  it  on  the  wrong  ground.' — Gerald  Massey, 
The  Historical  Jesus  and  Mythical  Christ. 


6  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

of  the  occurrence  of  miracles  such  as  are  described 
in  the  Bible,  are  equally  absurd  ;  for  the  indisputable 
proof  that  one  single  miracle  had  actually  occurred, 
would  immediately  overthrow  the  foundation  of  all 
religions  and  destroy  the  belief  in  an  eternal  and 
unchanging  God.  God,  being  himself  the  Law,  or 
the  Cause  of  the  Law,  cannot  act  against  himself 
without  committing  suicide,  and  those  who  are  trying 
to  uphold  a  belief  in  the  possibility  of  anti-natural 
or  absolutely  supernatural  occurrences,  are  denying 
that  God  is  the  ruler  of  Nature.  They  degrade  him 
to  a  fallible  being  who  changes  his  mind,  and  is 
subject  to  whims,  such  as  are  produced  by  external 
influences ;  but  what  external  influences  could  pos- 
sibly act  upon  God,  who  is  self-existent  and  omni- 
present and  who  includes  the  All  ?  The  fact  that 
no  miracle  has  ever  occurred  is  the  most  formidable 
argument  for  the  existence  of  a  universal  God ;  for  it 
proves  the  existence  of  universal  and  unchangeable 
Law,  whose  Law-giver  must  be  equally  universal 
and  not  subject  to  change.  Those,  however,  who 
attempt  to  reconcile  the  miracles  of  the  Bible  with 
material  reason,  by  seeking  to  explain  them  by 
theories  of  sleight  of  hand,  or  by  the  spiritistic 
theory,  are  to  be  pitied  most ;  for  they  prove  that 
they  have  neither  the  faith  which  characterises  the 
Christian,  nor  sufficient  intellect  to  see  where  the 
so-called  '  realities '  end,  and  where  the  realm  of 
the  fable  representing  the  true  Ideal  begins. 

From  '  profane  history '  we  can  gather  very  little 
information    in    regard   to   the   person  of   the   great 


INTRODUCTION  7 

reformer.  All  that  we  can  learn  from  a  few  short 
remarks  in  Tacitus  and  Josephus  (believed  by  some 
to  be  interpolations)  is,  that  some  such  person 
actually  existed,  and  we  are  led  to  infer,  that  he 
was  regarded  by  some  as  a  sorcerer,  by  others  as 
one  of  the  would-be  reformers  and  religious  fanatics 
of  those  times,  that  he  was  opposed  to  the  prevailing 
religious  views,  and  that  on  account  of  the  attacks 
he  made  upon  time-honoured  institutions,  upon  which 
the  security  of  the  church  and  the  authority  of  the 
clergy  rested,  he  was  finally  put  to  death. 

So-called  '  sacred  history,'  as  contained  in  the 
*  four  gospels,'  is  believed  to  give  a  detailed  account 
of  his  life  and  his  doctrines ;  but  while  there  seems 
to  be  a  vein  of  truth  in  regard  to  actual  historical 
occurrences  underlying  the  gospel  accounts,  the  great 
bulk  of  the  latter  is  in  contradiction  to  Common 
Sense,  and  merely  a  repetition  of  different  allegories, 
such  as  we  may  find  in  the  ancient  books  of  the 
Egyptians,  Persians,  and  Brahmins.  These  ancient 
myths  have  been  most  curiously  mixed  up  with  the 
biography  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  and  represented  as 
having  actually  taken  place  during  his  life.  In  fact, 
the  few  probable  details  in  regard  to  the  life  of  Jesus 
are  so  much  loaded  with  fables  and  misinterpreted 
allegories,  that  the  'New  Testament'  deserves  to  be 
regarded  rather  as  a  poem,  describing  psychological 
processes,  than  as  a  book  of  history,  describing 
external  occurrences. 

If  we  examine  that  book  without  any  prejudice 
and  without  any  sectarian  bias,  we  find  therein  two 


8  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

currents  of  thought.  The  first  appHes  to  the  hfe 
of  a  man,  who — if  he  has  not  been  entirely  mis- 
represented— must  have  been  a  great  genius,  a  hero, 
and  a  reformer.  The  second  current  refers  to  sacred 
truths,  such  as  were  taught  in  the  secret  doctrines 
of  the  Arians  and  Egyptians ;  truths  which  we  find 
stated  in  the  books  of  Hermes  Trismegistus,  in  the 
Bhagavad  Gita,  and  others.  In  these  ancient  books 
we  find  reference  made  to  the  Christ  principle  long 
before  the  name  of  '  Christianity '  was  known,  and 
the  myths  of  the  '  Immaculate  Conception,'  the  '  Son 
of  God,'  etc.,  may  be  clearly  traced  to  this  ancient 
origin.  This  discovery,  far  from  throwing  discredit 
upon  the  veracity  of  the  principles  upon  which 
primitive  Christianity  was  based,  serves  rather  to 
strengthen  the  foundation  upon  which  the  original 
doctrines  rest ;  it  does  not  overthrow  the  truths 
stated  in  the  Bible,  but  goes  to  confirm  them,  by 
showing  that  the  processes  thus  allegorically  de- 
scribed, are  not  merely  events  of  the  past,  but  that 
they  are  continually  occurring,  and  will  in  all  proba- 
bility continue  to  occur  in  the  future. 

It  is  usually  claimed  by  those  who  adhere  to  a 
belief  in  a  merely  personal  and  historical  Christ, 
that  the  gospels  were  written  by  the  apostles,  who 
having  been  disciples  of  Jesus  and  eye-witnesses 
of  the  miracles  he  performed,  knew  what  they  were 
talking  about.  Granting — for  argument's  sake — that 
these  men  had  left  some  written  accounts;  they 
cannot  be  held  responsible  for  all  the  additions  and 
interpolations  which  were  afterwards  made  by  their 


INTRODUCTION  9 

followers  and  which  cannot  stand  the  test  of  sound 
reason  and  logic.  It  has,  however,  been  proved  by- 
recent  researches,  that  neither  of  the  four  gospels 
in  their  present  shape  was  written  by  the  apostles; 
but  that  they  were  probably  collected  long  after\vards 
by  some  unknown  members  of  the  church,  who 
labelled  them  with  the  names  of  the  apostles,  so 
as  to  impress  upon  them  the  stamp  of  unquestioned 
authority;  while  they  undoubtedly  eliminated  from 
the  existing  traditions  a  great  deal  that  may  have 
appeared  prejudicial  to  the  interests  of  the  church, 
or  contrary  to  their  own  views  and  opinions. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  into  a  discussion 
in  regard  to  the  origin  of  the  gospels,  nor  would  we 
expect  any  great  benefit  to  arise  from  a  controversy 
in  regard  to  such  matters ;  because  in  matters  of 
religion  and  where  no  knowledge  exists,  sentiment 
forms  a  stronger  attraction  than  reason.  No  argument 
is  strong  enough  to  force  a  person  to  lose  his  hold  of 
a  favourite  opinion  to  which  he  has  resolved  to  cling ; 
while  those  whose  knowledge  is  the  result  of  mere 
argumentation,  have  usually  very  little  power  of 
spiritually  perceiving  the  truth.  Those  who  cling  to 
time-honoured  superstitions  as  well  as  those  who  love 
scepticism  and  sophistry,  will  live  on  the  food  they 
have  chosen,  until  they  are  satiated  with  it. 

What  does  it  matter  to  us,  after  all,  to  know 
whether  or  not  our  ideal  Christ  has  ever  existed  in 
history  ?  If  we  were  in  a  position,  or  if  it  were 
necessary  for  us  to  imitate  the  daily  deeds  of  the 
man  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  all  their  details,  then  would 


10  THE    LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

it  perhaps  be  important  to  know  whether  or  not  the 
accounts  told  of  these  deeds  are  Hterally  true ;  but  as 
we  are  hving  in  a  different  age  and  under  different 
circumstances,  we  cannot  imitate  his  external  life  in 
all  its  details ;  but  we  can  look  up  to  him  as  a  high 
ideal  and  imitate  his  imier  life,  and  we  may  live  up 
to  such  an  ideal  without  knowing  whether  or  not  it 
has  ever  been  embodied  upon  this  earth.  To  imitate 
his  thoughts  is  far  more  important  than  imitating  his 
personal  acts. 

If  we  look  at  the  image  of  Jehoshua,  seen  through 
the  trembling  mists  of  incense,  mixed  with  the  vapours 
of  human  blood  and  the  smoke  of  burning  heretics, 
we  see  merely  an  unnatural  and  distorted  image  of 
the  Jewish  Jehovah,  a  ghastly-looking  shadow  that 
seems  to  be  neither  a  god  nor  a  man.  If  we  look  at 
him  from  a  rational  standpoint,  and  apply  to  him  the 
rule  by  which  mortals  are  usually  measured,  we  find 
that  our  measure  is  somewhat  too  short,  for  we 
discover  in  him  a  sublimity  of  character,  an  unlimited 
love,  a  transcendental  intelligence,  such  as  is  not 
found  combined  in  one  person  in  the  modern  history 
of  the  world ;  but  if  we  look  at  him  as  being  one  of 
the  full-grown  flowers  of  humanity,  a  person  whose 
mind  was  illuminated  by  Divine  Wisdom, — an  Adept, 
— who  possessed  the  knowledge  of  his  own  Higher 
Self,  all  that  appears  strange  and  impossible  in  his 
character  becomes  at  once  clear  and  comprehensible  ; 
but  we  cannot  conceive  of  him  in  that  light,  without 
entering  to  a  certain  extent  within  the  mystic  realm 
of  occult  science,  whose  key  is  the  power  of  spiritual 


INTRODUCTION  11 

perception,  called  Intuition.  Looked  at  in  that  light, 
he  stands  before  us  as  an  ideal  Man  and  as  a  personi- 
fication of  Divine  Wisdom. 

The  standard  of  morality  and  spirituality  of  a 
people  will  always  depend  on  the  quality  and  attitude 
of  the  ideals  they  follow.  If  their  ideals  are  monstrous 
and  unnatural,  they  will  be  vicious  and  lead  unnatural 
lives ;  if  their  ideals  are  true,  they  will  be  guided  by 
considerations  of  truth.  The  ideal  created  by  the 
Spanish  monks  and  which  they  call  their  '  Christ '  was 
a  devil,  and  their  deeds  were  the  actions  of  devils. 
The  standard  of  morality  and  spirituality  existing 
among  the  various  Christian  churches  of  the  world, 
including  more  than  two  hundred  Christian  sects,  may 
be  correctly  estimated,  according  to  their  higher  or 
lower  conception  of  the  term  '  Christ.''  In  many  cases 
we  find  that  conception  very  narrow,  and  therefore  the 
doctrines  of  these  sects  differ  in  such  cases  widely 
from  the  doctrines  of  Christ. 

'  The  Christ '  or  '  Messiah '  means  the  redeeming 
power  of  Universal  spiritual  consciousness,  love,  and 
intelligence,  while  the  limited '  Christ '  of  the  churches 
is  merely  a  person,  whose  love  manifests  itself  at  best 
only  inside  the  church.  The  real  Christ  means 
Universal  Life,  while  the  *  Christ '  of  the  sects  means 
separateness  and  favouritism.  True  Christianity  means 
spiritual  enlightenment,  universal  benevolence,  charity 
and  tolerance  ;  Churchianism  means  mental  darkness, 
stubborn  ignorance,  selfishness,  intolerance,  self- 
conceit,  and  hate  for  all  who  will  not  submit  to 
clerical  rule.     True  religion,  such  as  may  perhaps  be 


12  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

found  in  the  far-distant  golden  age,  means  that  entire 
renunciation  and  self-sacrifice,  such  as  we  find  it 
described  in  the  Bhagavad  Gita  and  in  other  sacred 
books  of  the  East,  and  which  is  also  represented  by 
the  ill-understood  symbol  of  the  Christian  Cross  ;  but 
modern  sectarianism,  the  offspring  of  the  worship  of 
the  bloodthirsty  Jehovah,  is  based  upon  a  concentration 
of  all  our  hopes  and  aspirations  upon  the  attainment 
of  some  selfish  personal  benefit  here  or  in  the  here- 
after ;  upon  a  craving  to  save  that  worthless  self,  even 
if  its  salvation  were  to  involve  the  ruin  of  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

True  religion — the  power  to  know  and  realise 
spiritual  truths — is  attained  by  those  who  can  rise 
above  the  sphere  of  their  illusive  self ;  sectarianism  is 
kept  alive  and  nourished  b}^  the  love  of  men  for  their 
own  animal  self  and  by  the  fear  to  lose  that  beloved 
thing.  As  long  as  this  love  of  self — based  upon  an 
entire  misconception  of  the  true  nature  of  Man — is 
not  eradicated  from  the  heart  of  mankind  and 
replaced  by  knowledge,  the  Upas-tree  of  dogmatism 
will  find  therein  a  soil  in  which  to  spread  its  roots  and 
to  reap  temporal  benefits  for  the  church  at  the  expense 
of  the  eternal  welfare  of  its  deluded  adherents. 

In  Jehoshua  Ben-Pandira  we  behold  a  divinely  in- 
spired man.  Inspired, — not  by  any  external  personal 
deity, — but  by  the  eternal  light  of  Divine  Wisdom,  that 
illumined  his  mind.  We  behold  in  him  first  a  Rabbi, 
a  man  of  great  talents,  who  sought  earnestly  after  the 
truth,  and  who,  after  having  been  initiated  into  the 
ancient  Egyptian  mysteries,  became  a  prophet,  and  a 


INTRODUCTION  13 

seer.  Having  arrived  at  the  knowledge  of  the  truth, 
he  heroically  defended  it  against  the  priests  of  the 
temple  and  sacrificed  his  life  in  the  attempt  to  bring 
the  life  of  the  true  Christ,  that  existed  within  himself, 
to  the  understanding  of  the  masses.  He  attempted 
to  dispel  the  clouds  of  darkness,  created  by  supersti- 
tion and  fear,  so  that  the  light  of  spiritual  knowledge 
might  enter  the  hearts  of  mankind.  He  taught  the 
principle  of  universal  fraternal  love,  of  a  love  for 
the  sake  of  love, — not  a  love  on  account  of  expected 
rewards;  but  his  ideas  were  too  grand,  too  sublime, 
to  be  comprehended  by  the  narrow-minded  bigots 
of  his  age.  He  was  murdered  by  those  whom  he 
attempted  to  save,  and  He — whose  whole  life-effort 
was  directed  to  overthrow  the  superstitious  belief  in  a 
limited  God,  separated  front  humanity  and  subject  to 
whims  and  caprices, — was  so  little  understood  by  his 
followers,  that,  after  his  death,  those  who  claimed 
to  believe  in  his  teachings,  made  of  himself  such  a 
liinited  god,  separated  him  froin  hwnanity,  and 
selected  him  for  an  object  of  their  external  worship. 
In  ^ Jesus  of  Nazareth'  we  behold  a  beautiful 
allegory,  representing  the  spiritual  germ  of  divine 
Intelligence  in  the  soul  of  Man,  conceived  in  the  heart 
by  the  power  of  the  spirit  of  Divine  Wisdom,  con- 
tinually born  in  the  mystic  Bethlehem  situated  in  the 
purest  region  of  the  human  soul.  To  speak  of  Him 
as  an  *  historical  person '  is  a  blasphemy  and  an 
absurdity.  He  never  was  killed  by  the  Jews,  although 
he  is  continually  crucified  by  professed  Christians. 
He  is  alive  to-day  and  will  live  for  ever,  and  resides 


14  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

in  the  hearts  of  those  who  adore  him  and  obey  his 
commands. 

Is  mankind  nowadays  better  prepared  to  receive 
the  gospel  of  the  universal  saving  power  of  Know- 
ledge and  Love  than  when  Jehoshua  lived  ?  Are 
men  ready  now  to  do  away  with  the  religion  of  fear 
and  selfishness  and  substitute  for  it  the  gospel  of 
Freedom  ?  Will  it  now  be  possible  for  them  to 
comprehend  that  their  beloved  self,  to  which  they 
cling  with  the  grip  of  despair,  as  a  drowning  man 
clings  to  a  straw,  has  no  permanent  existence  at 
all — but  is  merely  an  illusion,  a  product  of  a  con- 
tinually changing  interaction  of  correlating  forces, 
which,  acting  within  the  physical  plane,  produce  that 
sensation  which  causes  the  illusion  of  isolated 
existence  ?  Will  the  pious  be  ready  to  believe,  that 
before  they  can  hope  for  any  immortality  of  their 
individual  self,  they  will  first  have  to  begin  to  live  by 
finding  that  individual  Higher  Self,  their  Saviour, 
who  exists  in  a  life  beyond  the  separation  of  form  ? 
Will  they  be  ready  to  receive  the  gospel  of  eternal 
and  universal  life  in  the  spirit,  or  will  they  regard  a 
doctrine  which  denies  the  immortality  of  the  lower 
self  as  being  identical  with  denying  the  immortality 
of  the  sotd  ?  Have  men  become  intelligent  and  heroic 
enough  to  be  free,  or  must  they  still  be  furnished 
with  the  crutches  of  hope  and  fear  to  enable  them  to 
stand  upright?  Are  men  now  their  own  Masters, 
or  are  priestcraft  and  superstition  still  necessary  evils, 
to  keep  the  ignorant  in  subjection  and  terror  and  to 
make  them  obey   the   law  ?     Is  a  religion  which   is 


INTRODUCTION  15 

based  upon  the  love  of  men  for  their  animal  selves, 
and  whose  only  excuse  for  existence  is  its  expediency 
and  usefulness  for  political  and  social  purposes,  really 
useful  in  the  end  ?  Is  such  a  religion  calculated  to 
ennoble  mankind,  or  may  perhaps  the  cause  for  the 
growth  of  selfishness  and  its  resulting  evils  be  found 
in  that  spirit  of  egotism  upon  which  that  religion 
rests  ?  Will  it  be  practicable  now  to  proclaim  truths, 
which  have  at  all  times  been  carefully  hidden  from 
the  eyes  of  the  ignorant,  and  if  not,  should  not  the 
truth  be  told  for  its  own  sake  and  irrespective  of  any 
consequences  that  may  result  therefrom  ?  Can  the 
knowledge  of  the  truth  have  any  other  effect  in  the 
end  but  that  of  ennobling  those  who  open  their  eyes 
to  its  light,  even  if  the  dawn  of  to-day  will  cause  a 
temporary  disturbance  among  the  dark  mists  of 
ignorance  which  cover  the  face  of  the  earth  ? 

These  important  questions  seem  to  be  well  worthy 
of  our  consideration,  especially  at  the  present  day, 
when  the  Christian  temples  all  over  the  world  are 
seen  to  totter  and  shake,  because  they  are  built  upon 
sand ;  when  the  monsters  of  anarchism,  socialism, 
nihilism,  etc.,  born  of  ignorance,  rear  their  heads,  and 
tyranny  and  monopoly,  the  offspring  of  selfishness, 
are  vampirising  humanity ;  when  the  whole  of  Europe 
appears  to  be  threatened  by  a  devastating  war,  and 
America  is  beginning  to  suffer  the  ills  produced  by 
causes  transplanted  from  the  old  world  to  the  new. 

In  regard  to  so-called  science,  the  age  which  seems 
now  to  be  nearing  its  end  has  been  one  of  blind 
materialism  ;    in   regard  to  so-called  religion,   it  has 


16  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

been  one  of  formalism  and  credulity  in  supposed 
historical  facts ;  but  it  is  said  that  now  has  the  time 
arrived  when  one  of  the  seals  of  the  '  closed  book ' 
spoken  of  in  the  Bible  is  to  be  opened ;  that  is  to 
say,  that  the  understanding  of  mankind  as  a  whole 
will  be  opened  to  a  comprehension  of  eternal  truths, 
which  for  ages  past  have  been  misunderstood. 

The  following  allegories  describe  the  processes 
which  are  taking  place  within  the  inner  or  thought-life 
of  all  who  strive  for  initiation,  and  which  must  have 
therefore  also  taken  place  within  the  inner  life  of 
Jehoshua,  if  that  person  was  what  we  may  well  suppose 
him  to  have  been, — a  man  illumined  by  the  spirit  of 
Divine  Wisdom. 


THE  TRUE  HISTORY  OF  CHRIST 

(AN  ALLEGORY) 

For  ever  the  Light  shineth  into  darkness,  but  the  darkness  com- 
prehendeth  it  not. 

Long,  long  ago  in  the  past,  perhaps  milhons  of  ages 
ago,  at  a  time  beyond  human  calculation,  there  was  a 
realm  of  Light,  wherein  resided  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom. 
His  body  was  like  a  Sun,  and  the  living  rays  emanating 
from  him  filled  the  Universe  with  glory.  Matter  of  a 
fiery  and  ethereal  kind,  such  as  is  unknown  to  man, 
filled  all  space,  and  the  light  coming  from  that  Spirit 
penetrated  the  realm  of  Matter  and  endowed  it  with 
life  and  sensation.  Gradually  this  matter  began  to  cool, 
centres  of  attractions  were  formed,  and  around  these 
centres  still  more  matter  condensed,  and  they  grew 
into  revolving  globes  travelling  with  lightning  velocity 
through  space,  being  guided  by  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom. 
Upon  these  globes  stones,  vegetables,  animals,  and 
human  beings  grew. 

But  in  proportion  as  this  matter  became  dense  and 
solid,  it  became  impenetrable  to  the  light  coming  from 
the  Spirit  of  Wisdom,  and  the  men  born  therein  groped 
in  darkness,  until  they  discovered  a  phosphorescent 
substance  in  the  caves  of  the  earth  which  gave  forth  a 
light  like  a  diamond  after  having  been  exposed  to  the 

17  c 


18  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

sun,  and  they  called  it  '  Ratio.'  By  the  light  of  this 
stone  they  were  able  to  see  their  surroundings.  Men 
and  animals  used  this  stone,  but  in  the  hands  of  men 
it  shone  brighter  than  when  the  animals  used  it. 

But  the  light  which  they  now  possessed  threw  a 
false  glitter  upon  the  objects  which  it  illuminated  and 
caused  them  to  appear  distorted  and  not  as  they 
actually  were.  The  Spirit  of  Wisdom,  pitying  man- 
kind on  account  of  their  ignorance  and  darkness 
wherein  they  lived,  resolved  to  descend  to  them  ;  but 
being  unable  to  make  himself  visible  to  men,  because 
their  eyes  had  become  petrified  and  blind,  he  attempted 
to  manifest  himself  by  assuming  a  more  solid  shape  in 
their  souls. 

He  entered  the  Heart  of  Man  and  found  it  to  be  a 
stable,  filled  with  animals  of  all  kinds.  There  was  an 
ox  called  the  Will,  tied  to  the  yoke  of  passion,  and 
an  ass  called  Reason,  led  about  by  erroneous  specu- 
lations. There  was  a  hog  called  Intemperance,  and 
a  goat  called  Lechery,  and  around  the  door  prowled 
the  tiger,  the  wolf,  and  the  hyena,  seeking  to  gain 
admittance,  while  snakes  and  poisonous  reptiles  were 
wriggling  and  crawling  through  the  cracks  of  the  roof. 
The  stable  was  full  of  impurities,  the  windows  were 
covered  with  cobwebs,  that  prevented  the  light  from 
entering ;  but  in  spite  of  these  disgusting  surround- 
ings the  Spirit  of  Wisdom  remained  there  and 
attempted  to  clean  it  and  transform  it  into  a  temple, 
fit  for  him  to  reside  therein. 

He  attempted  to  make  his  presence  known  to  the 
proprietor  of  the  stable,  but  for  a  long  time  his  calls 


THE   TRUE   HISTORY   OF   CHRIST     19 

were  not  listened  to ;  for  besides  the  noise  made  by 
the  animals  in  the  lower  part  of  the  building,  there 
was  a  great  noise  made  in  the  upper  story,  which  was 
occupied  by  traders  of  all  kinds,  by  lecturers  and 
preachers,  scientists,  theologians  and  moralisers,  of 
whom  each  one  tried  to  make  himself  heard  above 
the  rest. 

By  some  accident  the  voice  of  Wisdom  attracted 
at  last  the  attention  of  the  proprietor,  but  he  could 
not  understand  what  it  said,  for  the  language  seemed 
foreign  to  him.  He  therefore  sent  a  commission  to 
examine  the  claims  of  that  Spirit.  Sophistry  and 
Superstition,  the  daughters  of  Ignorance,  and  a  fellow 
named  Logic,  an  illegitimate  son  of  a  woman  called 
Experience,  arrived,  accompanied  by  a  dog  called 
Selfishness.  They  listened  to  the  Spirit  and  wrote 
down  what  he  said.  They  then  asked  him  for  his 
certificates,  to  prove  who  he  was,  and  wanted  to  dis- 
pute with  him ;  and  as  he  did  not  answer  their 
arguments  in  a  manner  comprehensible  to  them,  they 
shook  their  heads  and  did  not  believe  what  he  said. 
The  animals  clamoured  that  the  strange  visitor  should 
be  ejected,  for  his  presence  disturbed  them  in  their 
comfort  and  ease.  Moreover,  the  angel  having  begun 
to  assume  a  material  form,  needed  some  nourishment 
to  acquire  substance  and  strength,  and  he  abstracted 
blood  from  the  animals  in  the  stable  and  nourished 
himself  with  it. 

Such  a  state  of  affairs  appeared  intolerable  to  the 
proprietor  of  the  house,  and  he  resolved  to  kill  the 
intruder.     He   was,   however,    afraid   to   attack   him 

c2 


20  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

openly,  because  he  feared  the  hght  that  shone  from 
his  body.  He  had  in  his  employ  two  servants  in  whom 
he  trusted,  although  they  were  two  thieves,  who  con- 
tinually robbed  their  master  of  his  most  valuable 
treasures  whenever  any  opportunity  offered  itself ;  but 
he  knew  it  not,  and  believed  them  to  be  his  faithful 
assistants.  The  name  of  one  of  these  thieves  was 
Credulity,  and  the  name  of  the  other  was  Scepticism, 
and  both  were  the  greatest  enemies  of  the  Truth. 

One  evening  the  Spirit  went  into  the  garden  that 
surrounded  the  house.  He  had  succeeded  in  trans- 
forming, by  his  magic  power,  some  of  the  animals 
into  men,  and  they  followed  him ;  but  the  proprietor 
hearing  of  his  whereabouts,  sent  his  servants  to  have 
him  arrested.  But  Credulity  and  Scepticism  had 
never  seen  the  Spirit  of  Wisdom,  and  did  not  know 
him ;  they  therefore  applied  to  Logic,  who  by  a  cer- 
tain trick  of  argumentation,  which  he  had  learned 
from  a  sorceress  in  the  West,  whose  name  was 
Curiosity,  managed  to  come  very  near  to  the  Truth, 
and  kissed  him,  and  (they)  then  treacherously  over- 
powered the  Spirit  of  Wisdom  and  caused  him  to  be 
crucified.  But  the  Spirit,  being  immortal,  could  not 
die ;  the  men  who  attempted  to  kill  him  merely 
destroyed  his  form,  and  thereby  rendered  themselves 
incapable  of  seeing  his  outward  expression,  and  the 
Spirit  of  Wisdom  returned  to  his  eternal  home,  to 
descend  again  and  again  into  the  hearts  of  men  and  to 
repeat  the  same  process  for  ever  and  ever,  by  being 
born,  crucified,  and  resurrected  every  day. 


'JEHOVAH' 

A  beautiful  god  is  the  most  noble  product  of  Man. 

Man-created  gods  are  most  wonderful  beings. 
They  possess  all  the  virtues  and  vices  of  those  who 
made  them,  and  they  in  return  cause  their  creators  to 
be  vicious  or  virtuous,  foolish  or  wise.  It  is  known  to 
the  student  of  occult  science,  that  if  a  man  consciously 
and  wilfully  performs  an  act,  whether  it  be  good  or 
evil,  he  calls  a  living  power  into  existence,  which  reacts 
upon  him,  until  the  strength  with  which  it  has  been 
endowed  by  him  who  conjured  it  up,  is  exhausted,  and 
while  it  lives,  it  may  be  either  a  curse  or  a  blessing 
to  its  creator.  Thus  it  is  even  with  the  creating  of 
gods,  and  the  law  that  applies  to  an  individual  man 
also  apphes  to  a  people. 

From  the  time  of  the  Babylonian  captivity  up  to 
the  present  day  a  curse  seems  to  have  been  attached 
to  the  Jewish  nation.  They  have  been  persecuted  in 
almost  every  country;  they  have  been  hated  wherever 
they  went.  Justly  or  unjustly,  their  cowardice,  selfish- 
ness, and  greed  have  almost  become  proverbial ;  as  a 
nation  they  have  surpassed  alliothers  in  grasping  and 
hoarding  wealth ;  they  are  as  a  whole  believed  to  be 
tyrannical,  unrelenting,  and  obstinate,  while  on  the 
other  hand  they  excel  other  nations  in  such  virtues  as 


22  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

grow  from  a  state  of  separateness  and  isolation  ;  they 
closely  cling  to  each  other,  they  assist  each  other  in 
need ;  they  love  their  families,  and  become  even 
heroes  in  the  defence  of  what  they  may  legally  claim 
as  their  own. 

If  we  attempt  to  trace  the  curse  which  seems  to 
rest  upon  them  to  its  origin,  we  may  find  it  in  the  fact 
that  they  have  created  that  cruel,  bloodthirsty,  and 
selfish  god,  whom  they  called  'Jehovah,'  and  the  god 
whom  they  had  created,  reflected  upon  them  his  own 
attributes  and  became  the  instrument  of  their  punish- 
ment. They  materialized  a  grand  idea,  forced  it  into 
a  limited  form  and  endowed  it  with  life,  and  they 
thereby  chained  themselves  to  that  form  and  became 
its  slaves.  In  creating  a  separate  god  of  their  own, 
isolated  from  the  universal  God  of  humanity,  they 
became  themselves  separated  and  isolated  from  the 
rest  of  mankind ;  their  god,  whose  favourites  they 
imagined  themselves  to  be,  was  the  outcome  of  their 
own  selfishness,  and  he  became  the  instrument  of 
their  torture  :  the  birth  of  Jehovah  became  the  curse 
which  clung  to  their  heels  wherever  they  went. 

For  millions  of  years  the  eternal  Brahin,  the  great 
and  universal  Spiritual  Sun  of  Wisdom,  had  sent  his 
beneficent  rays  into  the  world  of  mind.  He  knew  no 
distinction  of  person,  but  gave  the  light  of  wisdom  to 
all  who  opened  their  hearts  to  receive  it ;  the  water  of 
Truth  descended  like  rain  upon  all,  and  refreshed 
those  who  opened  their  souls  to  drink  it  in.  Life, 
Light,  and  Happiness  were  accessible  to  all  mankind, 
without  the  interference  of  man-ordained  priests  ;  the 


'JEHOVAH'  23 

Universal  God  asked  for  no  other  sacrifice  but  that 
which  rises  up  spontaneously  from  a  pure  heart,  the 
adoration  of  absolute  Good, — a  sacrifice  which,  kindled 
by  the  fire  of  unselfish  Love,  rises  up  like  a  cloud  to 
the  throne  of  the  Eternal  and  returns  again  like 
heavenly  dew,  showering  upon  him  who  offers  the 
sacrifice  seven  times  more  of  that  which  he  gives. 

Thus  in  ancient  times  the  heaven-ordained  priests — 
that  is  to  say,  all  human  beings  who  were  conscious  of 
the  existence  of  a  universal  divine  ideal — fed  the  gods 
with  sacrifices  of  pure  and  exalted  thoughts,  and  were 
fed  in  return  by  the  gods  ;  ^  they  sent  their  spiritual 
aspirations  from  the  altar  of  a  pure  heart  into  the 
highest  regions  of  thought  and  called  spiritual  forces 
into  action,  which  reacted  upon  them,  endowing  them 
with  knowledge  and  ennobling  their  characters.  Their 
'prayers'  served  to  thin  the  veil  of  matter  by  which 
they  were  surrounded  and  to  enable  them  to  look 
beyond  the  'gates'  of  their  prisons.  The  higher  state 
of  consciousness  to  which  they  arose  created  a  new 
'Jerusalem'  in  their  souls  and  caused  them  to  realise 
their  own  true  manhood  and  their  true  condition  as 
living,  embodied,  spiritual  powers,  kings  and  lords 
of  creation.  They  needed  no  help  from  external, 
personal  gods ;  because  they  were  aware  of  the  living 
presence  of  the  universal  Spirit  of  Wisdom  acting 
within  themselves. 

But  as  with  the  increase  of  the  population  the 
battle  for  terrestrial  existence  became  stronger,  and 
men,  forced  by  external  circumstances,  began  to  give 
1  Bhagavad  Gita,  III.  12. 


24  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

more  attention  to  their  animal  necessities  than  to 
the  requirements  of  a  life  in  the  Eternal,  as  they 
became  strongly  attracted  to  sensual  things,  and  lost 
proportionately  the  power  to  conceive  of  that  which 
transcends  sensual  perception ;  they  became  un- 
conscious of  their  own  divine  nature,  they  lost  con- 
fidence in  the  divine  power  within  themselves,  and 
clamoured  for  help  from  external  sources.  They 
forgot  how  to  pray,  and  learned  how  to  heg ;  and  as 
no  god  appeared  to  give  them  the  things  which  they 
desired,  they  invented  gods  of  their  own.  They 
needed  gods  who  promised  to  save  them  from  slavery, 
because  having  become  slaves  to  Self,  they  were  now 
too  busy  to  execute  the  commands  of  their  master, 
and  to  attend  to  his  affairs,  to  give  much  attention  to 
their  salvation,  and  to  work  themselves  effectively  to 
recover  their  freedom.  Thus  the  Unlimited,  Eternal, 
and  Infinite  disappeared  from  their  view,  and  in  its 
place  they  created  limited,  personal,  and  changeable 
gods.  The  god  which  the  Jews  created  was  called 
'Jehovah,' — a  name  whose  real  meaning  was  known 
only  to  few, — and  they  endowed  him  with  all  the  good 
and  evil  qualities  which  characterised  their  own 
selves. 

Natural  and  heaven-ordained  priests,  such  as  were 
conscious  of  the  divinity  existing  in  man,  and  who 
refused  to  render  homage  to  man-made  gods,  were 
persecuted  and  slain  ;  divine  worship  became  a  matter 
of  trade,  and  was  intrusted  to  man-ordained  clergymen, 
who  had  no  higher  ideal  than  their  own  semi-animal 
selves,  represented  by  the  gods  who  were  the  offspring 


'JEHOVAH'  25 

of  their  own  imagination.  The  interest  of  the  church 
became  paramount  to  the  acquisition  of  Wisdom, 
external  ceremonies  and  material  sacrifices  took  the 
place  of  spiritual  aspirations  and  heart-offerings,  hopes 
of  future  rewards  and  fears  of  punishment  in  the 
dread  hereafter  took  the  place  of  that  nobility  of 
character  which  seeks  to  do  good  for  the  love  of 
Good,  irrespective  of  any  consequences  that  may 
accrue  to  one's  self  therefrom.  External  heavens  and 
hells  were  invented,  and  the  priests  truly  possessed 
the  keys  to  them  ;  for  by  acting  upon  the  imagination 
of  the  believers,  they  could  cause  them  to  believe  to 
be  either  in  heaven  or  in  hell.  Thus  the  eternal 
Reality,  the  Truth,  was  deposed  from  its  throne  in 
the  hearts  of  men,  and  priest-craft,  with  its  illusions, 
assumed  the  sceptre. 

When  the  Jews  created  their  god  they  lost  their 
own  manhood ;  they  lost  all  confidence  in  their  own 
power.  Thenceforth  they  trusted  in  their  creature, 
and  the  god  whose  fathers  they  were,  fed  them  with 
promises  and  prophecies,  which  were  never  kept  nor 
fulfilled.  While  the  gods  of  the  Romans  inspired  the 
latter  to  perform  deeds  of  valour,  this  Jewish  god 
promised  to  accomplish  their  duties  for  them.  Instead 
of  helping  themselves,  they  now  waited  for  help  from 
their  god,  and  remained  slaves,  bound  by  chains  of 
their  own  construction.  But  in  vain  arose  to  the 
clouds  the  odour  of  burning  bullocks  and  sheep  from 
the  altars  of  the  temples ;  Jehovah  had  no  power  to 
help  his  worshippers.  He  was  a  monster  created  by 
selfishness,  and  needed   all   he  had    for  himself ;  he 


26  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

could  not  give  life  to  the  Jews,  because  his  own  life 
depended  on  the  life-energy  he  received  from  them  ; 
he  could  not  fulfil  their  expectations,  for  he  had  no 
power  but  that  which  was  lent  to  him  by  his  wor- 
shippers. Only  when  men  create  gods  from  whom 
they  expect  nothing,  will  their  expectations  be  fulfilled. 
When  they  realise  this  truth,  then  will  the  creating  of 
gods  become  useless,  and  men  will  again  become  able 
to  find  the  one  true  and  universal  God,  who  fulfils  all 
his  promises  by  acting  in  and  through  the  organism  of 
Nature  and  Man. 

As  long  as  men  have  different  desires,  they  will 
have  different  gods ;  as  long  as  they  wander  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain  with  many  peaks,  each  man  will 
believe  the  peak  which  is  most  prominently  before  him 
to  be  the  highest  of  all.  Only  when  they  have  all 
arrived  at  the  summit,  will  they  know  the  highest 
point ;  only  when  they  have  arrived  at  the  highest 
conception  of  the  truth,  will  they  begin  to  know  the 
universal  God.  They  will  then  see  that  the  gods 
whom  they  worshipped  before,  and  who  seemed 
so  grand,  were  only  the  products  of  illusions,  and 
that  standing  on  the  summit,  they — on  account  of  the 
altitude  they  occupy — are,  as  it  were,  the  summit 
themselves. 

By  worshipping  the  gods  whom  they  create,  men 
worship  nothing  else  but  themselves.  They  are 
creating  a  mental  image,  which  they  endow  with 
their  own  character ;  they  concentrate  upon  it  their 
thoughts,  their  hopes  and  fears,  and  as  they  themselves 
become    old   and   toothless   and   wrinkled,   they   are 


'JEHOVAH'  27 

horrified  to  see  the  image  in  the  mirror  before  them 
change  its  features.  They  discover  imperfections 
about  their  god,  where  they  had  imagined  everything 
to  be  perfect.  They  then  attempt  to  '  doctor '  their 
god ;  they  apply  plasters  and  salves,  they  paint  him 
and  dress  him  up,  they  seek  to  prolong  his  life  ;  but 
the  new  generations,  having  a  younger  ideal,  see  him 
putrefy  below  the  varnish  and  mask :  they  want 
a  young  god,  a  god  that  resembles  themselves,  and 
they  create  a  new  one  for  themselves. 

Thus  gods  are  continually  subject  to  change.  As 
the  character  of  a  nation  changes,  so  changes  its  god. 
To  reform  the  gods  of  humanity,  humanity  must  be 
reformed.  Only  when  all  men  are  of  one  mind  will 
they  all  have  the  same  God. 

But  that  universal  ideal  which  causes  all  men  to 
be  of  one  mind  cannot  be  found  in  external  creeds, 
ceremonies,  and  forms,  nor  in  adjustable  opinions  and 
doctrines ;  for  external  appearances,  opinions,  and 
theories  are  continually  subject  to  change.  Each 
human  being  differs  from  every  other  in  his  external 
appearance  and  in  the  way  he  thinks.  There  is  only 
one  thing  which  all  men  share  and  which  constitutes 
their  humanity :  it  is  the  consciousness  of  being 
human ;  the  knowledge  that  they  are  superior  to 
stones,  vegetables,  and  animals,  and  that  they  belong 
to  the  great  family  of  mankind.  This  consciousness 
does  not  change  as  long  as  men  remain  human.  If 
they  become  brutalised  they  also  become  unconscious 
of  their  dignity  as  human  beings ;  they  then  cease  to 
be  men,  and  remain  human  merely  in  external  shape. 


28  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Likewise,  in  proportion  as  men  rise  up  to  a  realisation 
of  what  is  divine  and  eternal  in  man,  they  become 
conscious  of  a  higher  state  of  existence  ;  they  expand 
into  gods,  while  they  still  have  the  stamp  of  humanity 
impressed  upon  their  forms.  When  all  men  will  have 
become  conscious  of  this  divine  state  of  existence, 
then  will  they  all  have  one  common  God. 

There  can  be  only  one  Supreme  Cause  of  life, 
consciousness,  and  wisdom,  and  its  dominion  must 
extend  wherever  these  three  factors  exist.  Men  cannot 
know  God  as  long  as  they  are  not  divine  themselves ; 
but  when  in  the  course  of  evolution  mankind  will  have 
thrown  off  the  chains  which  bind  them  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  matter,  they  will  again  become  able  to  know 
within  themselves  the  character  of  the  true  and 
universal  God,  whose  wisdom  is  manifest  everywhere 
in  Nature,  whose  external  aspect  is  visible  in  all  places, 
but  whose  power  can  be  realised  only  by  him  in  whom 
God  has  awakened  to  self-consciousness.  Then  will 
men  know  that  God  is  One  and  All  in  All,  and  that 
Humanity  is  spiritually  one  without  separation  and 
division. 

Then  will  a  wail  arise  from  the  gods  that  have 
been  created  by  man,  for  their  end  has  come.  Then 
will  a  wail  arise  from  the  Pharisees  and  the  scribes 
who  claim  to  be  the  keepers  of  wisdom  and  messengers 
of  the  gods  which  men  have  invented ;  for  the  gods, 
the  servants  of  the  church,  will  be  useless,  and  with 
them  their  own  authority  will  be  at  an  end.  Then 
will  the  people  cease  to  sacrifice  to  the  golden  calf, 
and  the  kingdom  of  the  true  Jehovah,  who  rejoices 


'JEHOVAH'  29 

within  the  hearts  of  men  when  they  kill  their  animal 
passions  and  sacrifice  to  him  their  erroneous  opinions, 
will  be  restored ;  but  those  who  refuse  to  open  their 
eyes  to  the  sunlight  of  truth  will  remain  in  darkness 
and  suffer  the  tortures  which  they  themselves  have 
created  by  their  own  morbid  imagination. 


NAZARETH 

From  the  conjunction  of  the  Intellect  and  the  Intuition,  the  Son, 
whose  name  is  Wisdom,  is  born. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  countries  in  Palestine 
is  Galilee.  It  appears  like  an  oasis  in  the  midst  of 
the  desolate  sunburnt  wastes,  so  frequently  seen  in 
the  Holy  Land,  and  in  one  of  its  most  charming 
spots  is  situated  the  village  of  Nazareth.  Green  are 
the  fields  and  abundant  the  forests,  and  in  the 
orchards  around  the  huts  composing  the  village 
the  fig  and  the  lemon  grow.  To  the  east  is  the 
River  Jordan,  flowing  tranquilly  between  the  gardens 
and  villas  situated  upon  its  borders  and  sparkling  in 
the  light  of  the  sun,  from  the  time  when  that  fiery 
orb  rises  above  towering  Mount  Tabor  until  he  sinks 
again  below  the  horizon,  behind  the  cliffs  of  the 
Carmel  mountains,  that  loom  up  in  the  distant 
west ;  while  towards  the  north  may  be  seen  a  small 
white  strip,  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  throwing  its  foam 
upon  the  sandy  beach  of  Phoenicia. 

Thus  in  the  mind  of  man,  and  in  the  midst  of  the 
wilderness  of  opinions,  a  place  may  be  found, 
deserving  the  title  of  '  Holy  Land,'  where  the  river 
of  thought  tranquilly  flows,  illuminated  by  the  Sun  of 
Divine  Wisdom,  that,  ever  since  the  beginning  of  the 

30 


NAZARETH  31 

world,  arose  from  the  East ;  while  in  the  distant 
West  loom  the  dark  mountains  of  Scepticism.  In 
that  sacred  place  will  the  Truth,  the  true  Saviour, 
be  known. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  the  village 
of  Nazareth  was  a  collection  of  huts,  built  like  all 
small  oriental  houses  of  sun-dried  clay,  put  up  appar- 
ently without  any  pretension  to  design.  There  were 
none  of  those  broad  avenues  and  streets,  comfortable 
for  walking  and  driving,  which  we  are  accustomed  to 
see  where  European  civilisation  exists ;  but  there  was 
that  charming  disorder  and  variety  which  gives  to 
ancient  towns  their  peculiar  character  and  endows 
each  spot  with  a  certain  amount  of  individuality  of 
its  own.  The  houses  were  without  windows  towards 
the  sides  of  the  street,  to  keep  out  intruders,  and  they 
received  their  light  from  interior  courts,  which  in  this 
mild  climate  served  as  places  for  sitting  or  working 
during  the  day  and  for  sleeping  apartments  at  night. 

The  population  of  Nazareth,  amounting  to  some 
four  thousand  individuals,  were  for  the  most  part 
a  modest  and  unassuming  people,  differing  in  that 
respect  from  the  inhabitants  of  Judea.  They  were 
of  a  mixed  kind,  consisting  of  Hebrews,  Phoenicians, 
Arabs,  and  Greeks,  to  which  were  added  a  number  of 
Roman  officers  and  guards,  stationed  there  for  the 
protection  of  the  interests  of  the  Romans. 

As  is  usually  the  case  in  places  where  types  of 
various  kinds  intermingle,  the  women  of  Nazareth 
were  very  beautiful.  They  were  celebrated  on  account 
of  their  charms  all  over  Palestine ;    nor  could  it  fail 


32  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

that  their  beauty  attracted  the  attention  of  the  stately 
Roman  soldiers,  and  that  the  latter  won  the  love  of 
the  former.  Human  nature  was  at  those  times  not 
fundamentally  different  from  what  it  is  now,  and  we 
need  therefore  not  be  surprised  to  hear,  that  one  of 
the  stalwart  Roman  warriors,  whose  name  wsLsPandira, 
fell  in  love  with  one  of  the  dark-eyed  daughters  of 
Nazareth,  and  that  the  fruit  of  their  '  illegitimate  ' 
union  was  a  son,  whom  they  called  Jehoshua,  and 
who,  having  inherited  from  his  father  the  manly  pride 
of  the  Roman,  and  from  his  Jewish  mother  his  almost 
feminine  beauty  and  modesty,  became  an  appropriate 
vehicle  for  the  unfolding  of  that  great  and  powerful 
spirit  of  wisdom  that  inspired  him  to  overthrow  the 
altars  of  the  cruel  Jehovah  and  to  teach  mankind  the 
gospel  of  fraternal  love. 

Let  not  the  pious  ear  be  shocked  at  the  statement 
that  Jehoshua  was  of  illegitimate  birth  ;  nor  need  the 
'  historical '  fact  that  he  was  born  out  of  wedlock 
lessen  our  respect  for  the  great  reformer ;  for  it  is  not 
often  that  the  truth  comes  in  a  manner  which  is  con- 
sidered legitimate  among  men.  They  consider  only 
that  knowledge  legitimate  which  has  for  its  parents 
external  observation  and  logic ;  but  the  greatest 
spiritual  truths  come  by  intuition,  without  external 
signs.  They  are  the  products  of  interior  perception 
and  understanding,  and  they  are  rejected  as  being 
illegitimate  by  those  who  reason  from  the  plane  of  ex- 
ternal effects.  They  descend  silently  from  heaven,  they 
enter  the  soul  during  our  dreams  ;  they  may  be  com- 
municated to  us  in  visions  and  are  seen  by  the  spirit, 


NAZARETH  33 

but  they  are  not  accepted  by  the  sceptical  intellect, 
which  is  spiritually  blind.  The  way  in  which  such  a 
knowledge  arrives  is  authorised  neither  by  science  nor 
by  the  church,  for  sciences  and  churches  belong  to 
external  things,  and  such  truths  are  therefore  rejected 
by  the  world. 

Only  those  whose  souls  are  pure  and  immaculate, 
whose  minds  have  formed  no  legalised  adulterous 
alliances  with  pseudo-scientific  and  erroneous  theo- 
logical dogmas,  only  those  whose  hearts  cling  to  no 
foreign  opinions,  but  possess  within  themselves  the 
spirit  of  knowledge,  will  be  able  to  receive  such 
illegitimate  truths  by  the  power  of  inspiration.  Their 
souls  may  become  'Mothers  of  Christ,'  their  minds 
illuminated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Sanctity,  their 
hearts  become  living  temples  of  God. 

Of  Jehoshua's  mother  little  is  to  be  said.  Women 
in  oriental  countries — then  as  now — had  but  little 
opportunity  for  receiving  an  education  or  for  dis- 
playing any  other  accomplishments  than  their  natural 
talents  and  physical  charms.  Ignorant,  innocent, 
and  of  modest  manners,  uneducated  but  kind, 
sympathetic  and  beautiful,  Stada,  like  many  others 
of  her  sex,  was  guided  more  by  the  decisions  of  her 
heart  than  by  the  calculations  of  her  intellect.  Her 
heart  yearned  for  love,  and  she  hoped  to  find  in 
Pandira  the  realisation  of  her  ideal.  Her  story  is  a 
mere  repetition  of  millions  of  others  of  the  same  kind. 
As  in  the  case  of  her  prototype  Psyche,  her  lover 
departed  as  soon  as  she  began  to  find  out  who  he  was, 
and  after  a  period  of  grief  she  married  a  poor  citizen. 


34  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

a  carpenter,  who,  on  account  of  her  beauty  and 
sweetness  of  temper,  consented  to  become  her  hus- 
band and  a  father  to  her  child. 

In  the  family  of  this  carpenter  and  builder  of 
houses^  Jehoshua  passed  the  days  of  his  childhood, 
learning  to  construct  toy-houses  and  cages  for  animals. 
He  evidently  was  a  very  talented  child ;  for  the  toy- 
houses  which  he  constructed  were  as  well  adapted  for 
their  purposes  as  the  physical  form  of  man  is  adapted 
for  his  soul.  While  the  gospel  accounts,  whose 
allegorical  language  evidently  refers  to  the  growth  and 
awakening  of  the  intelligent  principle  in  man,  represent 
Jesus  as  a  supernaturally  wise,  and  therefore  un- 
natural child,  the  so-called  apocryphal  gospels  speak 
of  him  as  a  wild  and  mischievous  boy,  who  naturally 
possessed  some  powers  of  black  magic,  by  which  he 
injured  his  playmates  whenever  they  dared  to  con- 
tradict him  or  refused  to  submit  to  his  whims. 
Considering  the  latter  accounts  as  having  been  greatly 
exaggerated,  we  may  well  suppose  that,  having 
inherited  from  his  father  the  temperament  of  a  soldier, 
he  found  but  little  taste  in  following  the  profession 
of  his  foster-father,  and  preferred  roaming  about  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  village  and  a  stroll  to  the  moun- 
tains, to  handling  the  saw  at  the  carpenter's  bench. 
The  illegitimate  and  therefore  unwelcome  son  of  the 
carpenter's  wife  was  not  overestimated  or  unduly  fon- 
dled at  home,  and  many  a  little  storm  arose  in  that 
peaceful  house  in  the  village  of  Nazareth  on  account 
of  the  roaming  habits  of  that  boy  who  loved  to  stroll 
away  from  the  village  at  night,  to  climb  among  the 


NAZARETH  35 

rocky  recesses  of  the  Carmel  mountains,  or  to  sit  on 
moonlight  nights  upon  a  cUff,  looking  out  upon  the 
wide  expanse  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  dreaming  of 
countries  which  he  had  never  seen,  and  wondering 
what  shores  were  upon  the  other  side  of  the  water. 

A  schoolhouse  may  be  a  good  place  to  educate 
the  Intellect  and  to  bring  it  to  an  understanding  of 
external  phenomena;  but  for  the  expansion  of  the 
spiritual  Intelligence  and  the  ennobling  of  character, 
Nature  herself  is  the  best  teacher.  Great  is  the 
superiority  of  the  educated  and  learned  mind  over 
the  uneducated ;  but  still  greater  is  the  light  of  those 
who  have  been  taught  by  Nature  herself,  and  acquired 
wisdom  independently  of  the  instruction  of  mortals. 
Those  who  spend  their  lives  in  schools  often  acquire  a 
great  deal  of  information  in  regard  to  external  things, 
which  may  be  very  useful  as  far  as  it  goes,  while  at 
the  same  time  they  may  lose  the  capacity  to  perceive 
internal  and  fundamental  truths,  which  are  far  more 
important  than  all  they  may  possibly  learn  in  regard 
to  phenomenal  existence.  Why  is  it  that  often 
shepherds,  hunters,  and  fishermen,  and  those  who 
spend  their  lives  in  the  solitudes  of  the  mountains,  the 
forest,  or  the  ocean,  are  capable  of  conceiving  of  very 
exalted  ideas,  far  beyond  the  intellectual  grasp  of  the 
dogmatist  ?  Is  it  perhaps  that  the  spirit  of  man, 
beholding  by  means  of  the  senses  the  wide  expanse  of 
Nature,  is  attracted  towards  the  Infinite  and  Eternal, 
his  legitimate  home,  and  thus  loosens  the  chains  that 
bind  him  to  his  terrestrial  prison,  and  thins  the  veil 
which  prevents  men  from  looking  into  the  realm  of 


36  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

the  Unknown  ?  Little  does  our  modern  civilisation 
know  about  that  grand  school  in  which  the  universal 
spirit  of  Divine  Wisdom  is  teacher,  where  the  heart 
expands  and  the  mind  conceives  ideas  too  grand  to  be 
expressed  in  the  language  of  mortals;  but  often,  when 
the  physical  body  is  resting  in  sleep  and  the  intellectual 
powers  of  man  cease  to  watch,  the  spirit,  loving  his 
freedom,  may  steal  away  from  his  labour  of  building 
his  toy-prison  house,  and  roam  about  in  the  regions  of 
his  eternal  home,  until  he  is  called  back  by  the 
awakening  senses  to  attend  to  his  terrestrial  labours. 

While  rambling  through  the  fields  and  forests  of 
Galilee  the  mind  of  Jehoshua  expanded  and  began  to 
stretch  its  feelers  towards  the  realm  of  the  Eternal. 
Often  while  entering  into  meditation,  half-forgotten 
memories  of  previous  lives  passed  upon  this  planet, 
flitted  before  his  soul,  and  indistinct  images  of  the 
future  presented  themselves  to  his  spiritual  vision. 
What  is  'memory'  but  a  power  to  recollect  and 
spiritually  perceive  the  images  of  the  past  impressed 
upon  the  Astral  Light?  and  may  not  our  spirit,  as  it 
expands  and  increases  in  power,  not  only  remember 
its  own  previous  existences  upon  this  globe,  but  read 
in  the  memory  of  Nature  the  whole  history  of  the 
world  ?  A  yearning  to  know  the  Unknown  filled  his 
soul,  and  his  mind,  not  being  crammed  with  adopted 
opinions,  drank  wisdom  from  the  universal  fountain 
of  truth. 

As  he  grew  up,  the  political  and  religious  questions 
of  those  times  began  to  attract  his  attention.  Being 
a  Hebrew  with  Roman  blood  in  his  veins,  he  shared 


NAZARETH  37 

neither  the  intolerance  and  hate  of  the  Jews  against 
their  oppressors,  nor  the  contempt  with  which  the 
latter  regarded  the  former,  and  this  fortunate  circum- 
stance helped  to  a  great  extent  to  develop  in  his  soul 
the  germs  of  religious  and  political  toleration,  and  to 
cause  them  to  grow  and  expand  into  that  love  for  all 
humanity  without  distinction  of  race  and  religious 
opinion,  whose  representative  he  became  later  on. 

Why  do  men  quarrel  about  their  opinions  in  regard 
to  religion  ?  Has  not  every  one  a  right  to  believe 
what  he  pleases,  as  long  as  he  has  no  knowledge  ? 
When  real  knowledge,  such  as  results  from  a  direct 
perception  and  understanding,  arrives,  then  there  can 
be  no  more  quarrelling  about  theories.  If  a  blind 
man  were  to  deny  to  one  who  sees  that  the  latter  is 
able  to  see,  the  seer  would  hardly  care  to  argue  with 
the  blind,  nor  would  he  be  likely  to  convince  him ;  for 
real  knowledge  cannot  be  taught,  it  must  be  gained 
by  experience.  What  we  learn  without  experiencing 
it,  is  merely  a  matter  of  opinion.  He  who  quarrels 
with  another  in  regard  to  opinions  is  after  all  merely 
quarrelling  with  his  own  doubts. 

Quietly  and  monotonously  passed  the  days  at 
Nazareth;  there  was  but  little  trade  carried  on  in 
that  place.  Agricultural  occupations  and  the  vintage 
were  the  things  that  took  up  the  attention  of  the 
inhabitants;  but  the  great  event  of  the  year  was, 
when  at  the  time  of  the  festival  of  the  *  Tabernacles ' 
and  '  Passover '  the  country  population  went  to 
Jerusalem,  to  enjoy  the  sights  of  the  capital  and  to 
attend  to  the  customary  religious  observances.     On 


38  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

such  an  occasion  the  streets  of  the  capital  resembled 
a  fair ;  the  houses  were  filled  with  strangers,  and  on 
the  outside  of  the  city  walls  camps  were  put  up, 
where,  sheltered  by  tents  and  straw-covered  huts, 
the  pilgrims  cooked  their  meals  and  discussed  the 
events  of  the  day. 

On  such  occasions  the  great  temple  was  crowded 
from  morning  till  night.  Traders  of  all  kinds  filled 
the  courts,  and  even  into  the  sanctuary  penetrated 
the  noise  of  the  merchant  praising  his  goods  and 
disputing  about  the  price  with  the  buyer ;  while  in  the 
interior  of  the  temple  equally  greedy  Pharisees  sold 
theological  creeds  and  promises  of  heavenly  rewards 
to  the  believers.  Some  of  the  halls  were  devoted  to 
the  distribution  of  justice,  and  in  other  halls  learned 
discussions  were  held.  There  the  letter  of  the  Law 
was  explained  with  lengthy  arguments  and  elaborate 
sophistry,  while  the  spirit  of  the  ancient  doctrines 
was  denied  and  driven  away.  The  secret  meaning  of 
these  doctrines  was  known  to  few,  and  those  who 
knew  it  were  looked  upon  as  being  heretics  and 
persecuted  by  the  orthodox  adherents  of  the 
church. 

Thus  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  resembled  the 
mind  of  man,  where  a  continual  warfare  is  going 
on  between  the  interests  of  the  lower  animal  and 
reasoning  self,  and  the  dictates  of  Divine  Wisdom  are 
not  listened  to.  In  the  mind  of  man,  as  in  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem,  there  exists  a  continual  struggle  between 
conflicting  opinions,  between  selfish  desires  of  different 
kinds,  between  doubt  and  superstition,  hope  and  fear ; 


NAZARETH  39 

and  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  appeaHng  to  the  selfish 
propensities  in  the  constitution  of  man,  often  assert 
their  borrowed  authority  and  overpower  the  truth  by 
means  of  sophistry  and  an  erroneous  appUcation  of 
logic. 

Jehoshua  was  frequently  present  during  those 
learned  disputations.  His  natural  common  sense 
revolted  at  the  sophistry  of  the  Pharisees,  by  which 
they  perverted  the  truth,  and  taking  part  in  the 
discussions  he  disconcerted  them  by  his  questions  and 
confounded  their  logic.  The  intrepidity  and  intelli- 
gence he  manifested  on  such  occasions  attracted  the 
attention  of  Rabbi  Perachia,  a  former  president  of 
the  Sanhedrin,  who  was  more  intelligent  and  liberal 
than  his  colleagues.  He  invited  Jehoshua  to  his 
house  and  became  his  instructor.  A  strong  friend- 
ship grew  up  between  the  old  man  and  the  boy,  and 
as  the  former  was  about  to  visit  Egypt  for  the  purpose 
of  prosecuting  certain  researches  in  the  sciences  called 
occult,  he  invited  Jehoshua  to  accompany  him  on  that 
voyage,  and  the  latter  gladly  accepted  the  offer. 


EGYPT 

Man,  after  having  vainly  sought  for  the  light  of  the  Truth  in 
externals,  and  found  nothing  but  darkness,  at  last  discovers  that  the 
land  of  llie  sunrise  exists  within  his  own  soul. 

Hail  thee,  O  Egypt,  thou  sanctuary  of  ancient 
mysteries,  thou  land  of  magic  and  wonders  !  When 
the  truth  was  driven  away  from  its  birthplace  in  the 
East  by  the  king  of  all  evils,  the  love  of  Self,  it  found 
a  refuge  with  thee.  Thy  indestructible  books  hold 
the  records  of  ancient  wisdom,  and  sectarian  bigotry 
has  in  vain  sought  to  destroy  them.  With  thee  they 
will  rest  safely,  until  selfishness  dies  and  men  wake 
up  to  a  consciousness  of  their  freedom.  Then  will 
the  truth  return  to  them,  and  they  may  re-enter  the 
Holy  Land  of  Knowledge. 

In  vain  the  powers  of  darkness  have  attempted  to 
silence  the  voice  of  the  truth  that  speaks  through 
thy  stony  lips.  Sectarian  Vandals  have  broken  thy 
tablets  and  plastered  up  thy  hieroglyphics;  but  thy 
stones  cry  out  and  proclaim  the  gospel  of  wisdom. 
Men  have  carried  away  thy  monuments,  and  they 
have  become  messengers  of  light  from  the  East  to 
the  West.  No  more  is  thy  ancient  wisdom  taught  in 
subterranean  caves  to  the  initiated ;  thy  secrets  have 
been  profaned  by  the  profane ;  thy  sacred  pearls  have 

40 


EGYPT  41 

been  thrown  before  the  swine  of  superstition  and  to 
the  dogs  of  bUnd  scepticism ;  but  the  swine  and  the 
dogs  turned  away  from  the  pearls  and  devoured  only 
the  dirt  with  which  the  treasures  were  covered.  Men 
have  robbed  thy  temples  of  precious  gold,  but  the 
gold  which  they  found  turned  to  ashes  in  the  hands 
of  the  selfish,  because  they  did  not  know  its  true 
value.  They  went  to  the  fountain  of  truth,  to  drink 
of  its  waters,  but  their  cups  were  not  purified.  They 
communicated  to  the  water  their  own  impurities,  and 
it  became  a  poison  to  them,  causing  villainous  leprosy, 
which  they  communicated  to  others.  They  pene- 
trated to  the  ark  that  contained  the  mystery,  but  they 
had  no  key  to  unlock  it ;  so  they  carried  away  the 
ark  and  exhibited  it  in  the  West,  but  the  mystery 
remained  in  Egypt. 

To  thee,  O  Egypt,  the  true  Redeemer  was 
known  ;  not  as  a  man  made  deity,  or  as  a  figure  in 
history;  but  as  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  constituting  all 
that  is  immortal  in  man.  Thy  Knowledge  was  too 
grand  to  be  grasped  by  the  pigmies  that  invaded  thy 
soil,  desecrated  thy  temples,  profaned  thy  sanctuaries, 
travestied  the  truths  which  were  taught  and  made  of 
a  sacred  myth,  that  teaches  an  eternal  truth  an 
historical  falsehood. 

Who  can  enter  an  Egyptian  temple  or  even  look 
at  one  of  these  ancient  monuments,  without  feeling  a 
sensation  of  awe  and  solemnity,  which  few  Christian 
cathedrals,  with  their  puppets,  manikins,  and  tinsel, 
will  ever  produce  ?  How  far  more  grand  and  sublime 
than  our  modern  misconceptions  must  have  been  a 


42  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

religion  that  expressed  itself  in  such  gigantic  forms  ! 
Who  but  an  animal  can  behold  these  pyramids,  the 
symbols  of  immensity,  whose  bases  rest  upon  the 
earth,  and  whose  points  reach  up  to  heaven,  without 
feeling  the  oppression  of  Matter  and  the  desire  of 
the  Spirit  for  freedom  ?  Who  can  behold  these 
monuments  of  a  forgotten  past,  without  sensing  the 
presence  of  that  consciousness  which  fills  all  space, 
the  Spirit  of  God  still  floating  over  the  waters,  with- 
out limits,  indivisible,  all  in  all,  present  everywhere 
and  pervading  every  atom  ? 

Is  there  any  soul  in  so-called  inanimate  things, 
and  if  not,  what  causes  these  stones  to  speak  to  our 
inner  consciousness  with  a  voice  much  louder  than 
that  of  the  occupant  of  a  pulpit  ?  Is  it  perhaps  that 
the  Truth  itself  is  speaking  to  us  through  these  stones, 
while  the  pulpit  orator  merely  repeats  what  he  has 
learned,  and  is  therefore  merely  an  echo  of  the 
opinions  of  fallible  men  ? 

Have  stars  souls,  or  are  they  merely  dead  aggre- 
gations of  matter  ?  and  if  they  are  without  souls, 
what  is  the  force  that  keeps  their  atoms  together  and 
guides  their  revolutions  in  space  ?  Why  is  Supreme 
Wisdom — a  wisdom  beyond  the  conception  of  Man 
— everywhere  manifest  in  Nature,  if  in  Nature  no 
consciousness  exists  ?  If  Nature  is  an  unconscious 
thing,  how  can  Wisdom  exist  without  Consciousness 
and  Intelligence  ?  Is  Nature  a  product  of  Life,  or 
Life  a  product  of  Nature  ?  and  must  there  not  be  a 
Consciousness  of  some  kind,  wherever  is  Life  ?  Is  it 
not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  what  we  call  '  Motion  * 


EGYPT  43 

is  a  manifestation  of  Life,  and  that  what  we  call 
'  Matter '  is  endowed  by  the  universal  Spirit  with  a 
certain  amount  of  Life,  and  that  the  life  of  different 
forms  differs  in  its  manifestation  merely  according  to 
the  organisation  of  the  Matter  composing  the  forms  ? 
If  this  is  true,  then  there  is  no  inorganic  matter  of 
any  kind  to  be  found  in  the  forms  of  nature,  but 
stones  and  rocks  must  have  organisations  of  their 
own,  and  each  planet  its  own  peculiar  life,  differing 
from  the  life  of  other  stars  in  the  treasury  vault  of 
heaven. 

If  this  view  is  seen  to  be  correct,  then  will  the 
apparently  dead  universe,  with  its  unconscious  motion 
and  its  causeless  mechanical  laws,  be  transformed 
into  a  thing  of  life,  pervaded  with  invisible  but  living 
and  conscious  powers,  guided  by  one  eternal  un- 
changeable Law  originating  in  Divine  Wisdom.  Then 
will  those  dead  globes  of  matter,  floating  in  space  and 
obeying  mechanical  laws  for  some  unexplainable 
reason,  be  changed  into  a  living  family  of  children  of 
the  universal  God,  who  are  all  doing  the  will  of  their 
Father,  because  it  is  their  Father's  will  that  endows 
them  with  life. 

But  if  the  suns  and  stars  and  all  the  so-called 
inanimate  things  have  life,  then  they  must  have  some 
kind  of  consciousness  and  sensation,  even  if  they  are 
not  self-conscious  and  have  no  knowledge  of  indi- 
vidual separate  life.  They  may  be  subject  to  loves 
and  hates,  to  desires  and  passions,  to  attractions  and 
repulsions.  Then  it  would  seem  that  the  ancient 
Astrologers  were  right  after  all  in  attributing  certain 


44  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

virtues  and  vices  to  the  different  planets  and  stars, 
and  in  believing  in  a  certain  kind  of  interchange 
between  their  radiations.  There  is  no  reason  why 
stars  should  not  be  in  possession  of  Intelligence,  even 
if  they  are  not  conscious  that  they  are  existing  as 
separate  beings.  Is  it  not  possible  that  even  a  high 
degree  of  Consciousness  and  Intelligence  may  exist  in 
an  organism  that  is  not  aware  of  the  fact  of  being  an 
entity  different  from  other  entities  in  the  Universe  ? 

Let  us  here  ask  the  question,  whether  a  high  state 
of  consciousness  and  intelligence  is  not  possible  even 
in  Man  without  any  consciousness  of  Self.  Are  not 
men  most  happy  when  they  forget  their  own  selves  ? 
Do  they  not,  when  they  become  interested  in  reading 
a  book  or  in  witnessing  a  theatrical  performance, 
Hstening  to  music,  etc.,  forget  for  the  time  being  that 
they  are  entities  existing  separately  from  others  ? 
Do  men  not  even  drink  the  intoxicating  cup  for  the 
purpose  of  forgetting  Self,  and  are  they  not  miserable 
in  proportion  as  they  think  of  themselves?  Men 
do  not  cease  to  live  or  to  think,  to  be  intelligent,  to 
know,  to  love,  and  to  will,  when  they  forget  their  own 
Self ;  but  they  then  cease  to  have  selfish  thoughts,  a 
self-will,  and  a  selfish  imagination.  If  we  could  be 
free  for  ever  from  that  sensation  of  Self,  we  would 
not  cease  to  be  conscious  and  intelligent  and  happy ; 
but  we  would  cease  to  be  limited  by  that  self,  and 
we  would  all  do  the  will  of  the  universal  God  and 
partake  of  his  thoughts. 

Perhaps  a  glance  at  the  ancient  books  of  Wisdom 
may  throw  some  light  upon  this  matter. 


EGYPT  45 

If  we  open  the  Bible,  the  first  verse  of  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis  teaches  us  a  great  truth,  taught  by 
the  Egyptian  Hierophants  :  '  Bereschit  bar  a  Elohini, 
ath  ashamain  on  ath  aoris.'  This  is  to  say :  '  The 
First  Cause  produced  the  powers  which  constitute 
heaven  and  earth.' ^  If  the  First  Cause  produced  all 
beings,  even  those  that  have  life,  it  must  be  itself  the 
source  of  all  Life.  If  it  produced  the  powers  which 
constitute  Wisdom,  it  must  be  Wisdom  itself.  If  the 
Great  First  Cause  is  Spirit, — and  what  else  can  we 
call  it? — then  by  producing  all  things  it  endowed 
them  with  its  own  spirit,  and  all  things  must  have  a 
spiritual  basis,  which  enables  them  to  exist.  All 
things  must  have  '  souls,'  and  it  is  their  souls  which 
cause  their  material  constituents  to  act  upon  each 
other,  and  produce  the  divine  harmony  which  we 
observe  throughout  Nature. 

Where  do  the  material  constituents  of  a  being 
end  ?  Are  they  all  enclosed  within  the  shell  of  its 
visible  form,  or  may  there  not  be  invisible  radiations 
of  sensitive  '  matter,'  not  having  entered  the  soHd 
form,  but  nevertheless  belonging  to  its  organisation  ? 
Does  not  the  Corona  of  the  sun  belong  to  its  sub- 
stance as  much  as  the  fiery  globe  constituting  his 
inner  body  ?  Does  not  the  power  which  a  magnet 
exercises  at  a  distance  belong  to  the  magnet  ?  May 
we  not  look  upon  a  star  as  being  an  organised  body, 
whose  periphery  extends  as  far  as  its  influence 
reaches,  while  its  visible  globe  is  merely  the  visible 

■  The    term   '  heaven '    refers   to    all   states    of    consciousness ; 
*  earth,'  to  all  forms  of  matter. 


46  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

kernel  of  the  great  invisible  mass,  and  may  not  the 
same  reasoning  be  applied  to  all  living  beings,  even 
to  Man?  If  this  is  true,  then  we  are  all — like  the 
stars — living  within  the  spheres  of  each  other,  and  all 
beings  are  substantially  one,  separated  from  each 
other  merely  by  the  illusion  of  form. 

It  is  very  difficult  for  man,  whose  perceptions  are 
subject  to  the  limitation  imposed  by  form,  to  conceive 
of  the  invisible  and  formless  ;  but  he  will  never  be 
able  to  obtain  the  key  to  the  understanding  of  the 
divine  mysteries  of  nature,  until  he  realises  the  Unity 
of  the  All,  and  knows  that  the  so-called  invisible  and 
unknowable  realm  is  the  real  and  substantial  world, 
while  the  great  phantasmagoria  of  corporeal  forms  is 
merely  an  illusion,  produced  by  aggregations  of  matter 
and  constructed  by  the  souls  of  things,  the  carpenters 
in  the  workshop  of  Nature  ;  the  step-fathers  of  the 
newly-begotten  son  of  Divine  Wisdom. 

It  is  known  that  the  ancient  Egyptians  were  well 
versed  in  Astronomy,  and  recent  discoveries  made  in 
regard  to  the  construction  of  the  Great  Pyramid  go 
to  show  that  they  knew  in  many  respects  more  about 
this  science  than  the  moderns  suspect ;  but  to  them  the 
suns  and  planets  were  representing  invisible  realities. 
To  them  the  visible  corporeal  stars  were  merely 
external  manifestations  of  invisible  internal  powers. 
Where  the  present  civilisation  beholds  nothing  else 
but  dead  material  bodies,  obeying  the  mechanical  law 
of  gravitation,  whose  cause  it  cannot  explain,  the 
ancient  Egyptians  beheld  a  universe  filled  with  life, 
following  the  universal  law  of  order  and  harmony. 


EGYPT  47 

whose  cause  is  the  Will  of  the  eternal  Creator,  who 
produced  these  forms  within  the  substance  of  his  own 
Mind. 

The  visible  terrestrial  sun  was  to  them  a  repre- 
sentation of  the  invisible  spiritual  Central  Sun  of 
Divine  Wisdom,  named  the  Sun-God  Osiris  (Christ), 
unknowable  to  external  sensation,  but  manifesting 
itself  as  Horus  (Jesus)  in  the  hearts  of  mankind ; 
becoming  *  regenerated  '  within  the  souls  of  the  pure 
by  the  power  of  our  eternal  Mother,  Isis^  the  ever 
immaculate  virgin,  the  goddess  of  Nature.  *  God  ' 
to  them  was  not  a  limited  being,  but  the  Eternal 
Cause  of  all  manifestations  of  power  within  the  realm 
of  Matter  and  in  the  kingdom  of  Spirit,  containing 
within  himself  everything  that  exists,  and  yet  in 
consciousness  being  superior  to  all  beings.  While  all 
things  are  living  and  changing  in  him,  he  remains 
always  the  same ;  tranquil  in  his  eternal  glory  and 
undisturbed  by  any  external  influence.  He  does  not 
descend  to  us,  but  the  gifts  which  we  receive  from 
Him  differ  according  to  the  positions  we  occupy  in 
regard  to  Him. 

Let  those  who  desire  to  know  whether  these 
doctrines  are  true  look  within  their  own  minds,  for 
Man  is  an  image  of  his  creator.  There  they  will  find 
a  continually  changing  region  of  thoughts.  Subjective 
forms  of  all  kinds  throng  that  interior  realm,  ever 
changing,  and  without  rest.  But  if  they  penetrate 
deeper,  even  within  the  realm  of  the  spirit  within, 
they  will  find  a  tranquil  place  and  a  principle  whose 
state  of  consciousness  is  not  affected  by  the  changes 


48  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

going  on  in  the  mind,  and  yet  these  changes  are  pro- 
duced by  that  principle,  sending  its  rays  into  the 
world  of  ideas  existing  within  the  mind.  The  divine 
spirit  in  Man  does  not  descend  to  the  sphere  of  man's 
intellectual  understanding ;  but  Man  may  rise  up  to 
it  in  his  thoughts.  There  are  periodical  changes 
taking  place  in  the  mind  of  man,  similar  to  the 
astronomical  changes  in  the  universe.  There  are 
ebbs  and  tides  of  thought,  as  there  are  ebbs  and 
tides  of  the  ocean.  There  are  times  when  Man 
involuntarily  approaches  nearer  to  God,  and  times 
when  he  recedes.  The  Egyptians  knew  that  all  the 
mental  processes  going  on  in  the  mind  of  Man  are 
images  on  a  small  scale  of  the  processes  taking  place 
on  a  grand  scale  in  the  Universal  Mind,  and  that 
external  phenomena  are  the  shadows  of  internal 
realities.  Being  aware  of  the  unity  of  the  All  and 
knowing  the  nature  of  the  spiritual  forces  in  the 
Macrocosm  of  Nature  and  their  correspondences  in 
the  Microcosm  of  Man,  they  studied  the  position  of 
the  stars,  to  know  the  time  when  Humanity  would 
again  approach  nearer  to  the  divine  Sun  of  Wisdom. 
They  were  able  to  tell  the  changes  occurring  in  the 
spiritual  condition  of  mankind  by  studying  the  position 
of  the  visible  sun  to  the  Zodiac. 

But  we  are  entering  here  upon  forbidden  ground. 
Even  if  we  were  able  to  expose  the  sacred  mysteries 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians  to  the  scoffer  and  sceptic, 
it  would  be  a  sacrilege  to  attempt  it.  Moreover, 
these  mysteries  cannot  be  explained;  they  are  beyond 
the  intellectual  conception  of  mortals.    They  can  only 


EGYPT  49 

be  perceived  intuitively  by  the  spiritual  intelligence  of 
Man  after  he  has  become  self-conscious  of  the  divinity 
of  his  God. 

These  sacred  mysteries  were  in  the  possession  of 
the  Holy  Brotherhood,  and  they  were  taught  only  to 
those  select  few  who  were  fit  to  be  instructed  in  them; 
or,  to  express  it  more  correctly,  they  were  not  taught 
at  all,  but  the  candidate  was  instructed  how  to  act,  so 
that  his  own  spiritual  powers  of  perception  might  be 
developed  within  him,  and  he  become  able  to  see  and 
know  such  things  himself.  To  be  admitted  within 
the  sacred  precincts  of  the  Grata  Repoa,  it  was 
necessary,  not  only  to  lead  a  blameless  life,  but  to  be 
in  possession  of  extraordinary  talents  and  strength  of 
character,  and  to  devote  one's  life  entirely  to  the 
practical  application  of  the  truths  that  were  taught  in 
this  order. 

There  were  several  degrees  in  that  fraternity,  and 
no  one  was  admitted  as  a  member  of  a  higher  degree 
until  he  had  completely  mastered  all  that  was  to  be 
acquired  in  the  lower  degrees,  and  which  sometimes 
required  many  years  to  accomplish.  An  initiation  in 
that  order,  or  a  passing  to  higher  degree,  was  a  terribly 
serious  matter,  having  nothing  whatever  in  common 
with  the  sham-initiations,  mummeries,  idle  cere- 
monies, and  ill-understood  mysteries  of  modern  secret 
societies.  It  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  be  admitted 
as  a  candidate,  and  still  more  difficult  to  pass  through 
the  prescribed  trials,  which  were  rather  of  an  internal 
than  of  an  external  character.  Many  of  those  who 
did  not  succeed  in  standing  the  tests  imposed  upon 


50  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

them  became  insane ;  others  paid  with  their  Hfe  the 
penalty  for  their  daring,  or  had  to  remain  prisoners  in 
subterranean  caves  until  death  came  to  release  them. 
Jehoshua  appHed  for  admission  to  one  of  the 
members,  but  was  refused ;  he  applied  a  second  time 
to  another  member,  but  was  refused  again  ;  but  after 
he  had  applied  for  the  third  time,  to  his  great  joy  he 
was  admitted  as  a  candidate  for  probation,  and  he 
entered  the  temple  at  the  day  appointed  for  his  pre- 
liminary instruction. 


THE 

MYSTERIOUS    BROTHERHOOD 

There  is  nothing  more  difficult  to  find  than  one's  own  self. 

After  Jehoshua  had  entered  the  Egyptian  temple,  he 
was  led  into  the  presence  of  the  assembled  priests. 
They  questioned  him  in  regard  to  his  object  in  desiring 
to  enter  their  order,  and  admonished  him  to  desist ; 
warning  him  of  the  dangers  that  he  was  to  incur,  if  he 
insisted  in  pursuing  this  way  to  obtain  knowledge  of 
the  secret  sciences  and  to  come  in  possession  of  the 
powers  which  such  a  knowledge  conveyed.  They  told 
him  that  if  he  were  once  admitted,  there  would  be  no 
possibility  to  retreat,  as  he  would  have  to  succeed  or 
to  lose  his  freedom  and  perhaps  even  his  life  ;  for 
powers  of  evil  which  would  be  aroused  would  conquer 
him,  unless  he  were  strong  enough  to  conquer  them. 

Jehoshua  Ben-Pandira  was  not  to  be  intimidated  ; 
he  desired  to  obtain  knowledge  and  considered  wisdom 
to  be  more  valuable  than  life.  He  insisted  upon  being 
admitted.  He  received  the  blessings  of  the  Brothers, 
and  as  each  of  these  venerable  men  laid  his  hands 
upon  his  head,  he  felt  an  electric  thrill  pass  through 
his  frame,  that  seemed  to  invigorate  him  and  to  give 
him  a  power  sufficient  to  overcome  all  dangers.  After 
this  he  was  given  over  to  a  guide  called  Thesmophores, 
who  blindfolded  him  and  led  him  away. 

51  E2 


52  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

He  went  with  his  guide  through  several  long  cor- 
ridors, from  whose  walls  the  echoes  of  their  steps 
resounded,  and  they  descended  a  flight  of  stairs  until 
at  last  they  arrived  at  the  place  of  their  destination. 
When  the  hood  was  removed,  Jehoshua  found  himself 
in  a  cave  hewn  in  the  solid  rock.  It  was  a  high  arched 
vault  with  massive  pillars,  cut  in  a  manner  to  represent 
figures  of  men  and  fabulous  animals.  The  only  Hght 
which  entered  into  the  vault  came  through  a  round 
opening  far  up  in  the  roof,  where  a  small  part  of  the 
clear  blue  sky  could  be  seen.  Upon  the  walls  of  that 
prison  were  written  proverbs  and  mottoes,  consisting 
of  extracts  from  the  books  of  the  Egyptian  and  Indian 
sages,  who  may  have  lived  in  the  far-distant  past, 
perhaps  even  in  prehistoric  times,  when  that  which  we 
now  call  Europe  formed  the  bottom  of  the  sea, 
and  another  continent  was  at  the  height  of  its 
civilisation  at  a  place  where  now  the  ocean  rolls  its 
waves. 

The  room  was  furnished  in  the  most  primitive 
fashion,  containing  merely  the  most  necessary 
requisites.  The  Thesmophores  told  the  candidate — 
for  such  he  had  now  become — that  he  would  have  to 
remain  here  in  solitude  for  an  indefinite  period  of 
time.  He  advised  him  to  occupy  himself  with  thinking 
of  the  nature  of  man  and  his  destiny  and  to  meditate 
about  his  own  self.  He  gave  him  some  writing 
materials  and  requested  him  to  write  down  the 
thoughts  that  would  enter  his  mind  and  seem  im- 
portant to  him,  and  after  taking  leave  of  the  prisoner 
and  wishing  him  good  success,  the  guide  went  away. 


THE    MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     53 

Thus  when  the  free  spirit  seeking  for  knowledge 
sends  its  feelers  into  the  tomb  of  living  clay,  blindly 
following  the  law  of  reincarnation,  he  finds  himself 
alone  without  a  guide,  left  to  his  own  thoughts,  and 
with  only  a  faint  light  above  coming  from  his  former 
home,  while  on  the  walls  of  the  prison  house  called  the 
Mind,  he  may  find  dim  recollections  of  the  teachings 
of  wisdom  acquired  in  previous  lives. 

Jehoshua  was  now  alone.  There  is  nothing  more 
terrible  than  isolation  and  solitude  to  those  who  know 
of  no  other  life  but  that  of  external  sensation  and 
who  cannot  create  their  own  thoughts ;  especially  if 
there  is  no  change  in  their  surroundings,  to  attract 
their  attention  and  to  stimulate  them  to  think. 
Thinking  is  an  art,  and  few  can  think  what  they  wish 
or  hold  on  to  a  thought.  Men  only  think  what  they 
must ;  they  feed  on  the  ideas  that  enter  their  minds 
without  asking.  Welcome  and  unwelcome  thoughts 
enter ;  they  neither  come  at  our  bidding  nor  go  away 
when  they  are  not  wanted :  they  are  like  disorderly 
guests  that  do  not  obey  the  rules  which  the  landlord 
prescribes. 

The  monotony  in  which  Jehoshua  lived  remained 
unchanged.  There  was  no  sound  of  any  kind  to  be 
heard ;  he  was  surrounded  by  silence ;  and  if  it  had 
not  been  for  the  small  opening  in  the  vault  far  above 
his  head,  he  would  not  have  known  the  changes  of 
day  and  night.  He  studied  the  writings  upon  the 
walls,  and  impressed  them  upon  his  memory,  analysing 
their  meaning ;  and  the  more  he  thought  about  them, 
the  more  his  mind  seemed  to  expand  and  new  ideas 


54  THE    LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

enter.  He  could  not  tell  from  whence  they  came,  but 
he  wrote  them  down  upon  the  tablets  with  which  he 
had  been  provided;  and  often  when  in  the  morning 
he  awoke  from  his  slumber,  these  tablets  had 
disappeared  from  his  prison,  and  he  knew  not  what 
had  become  of  them.  He  saw  no  one  enter  the  room, 
and  yet  somebody  must  have  taken  them  away. 
Likewise  the  food  with  which  he  was  provided  was 
supplied  by  invisible  means.  It  was  of  the  most 
simple  kind,  consisting  of  bread,  milk,  fruit,  and  water. 
It  was  daily  brought  to  him  in  some  inexplicable 
manner ;  how  or  by  what  means  he  could  not  tell,  for 
it  was  put  into  his  prison  during  his  sleep.  However, 
he  soon  ceased  to  be  astonished  at  such  strange 
occurrences  and  he  began  seriously  the  study  of  self. 
As  he  became  accustomed  to  look  within  his  own  soul, 
a  new  world  seemed  to  open  before  him  ;  his  imagina- 
tion grew  stronger,  and  the  pictures  presented  before 
his  inner  eye  became  as  objective  and  real  to  him  as 
the  objects  of  the  external  world,  only  more  beautiful, 
more  ethereal,  and  yet  far  more  substantial  than  the 
latter.  Visions  of  things  which  he  had  formerly  seen, 
but  which  had  apparently  been  lost  to  his  memory, 
appeared  again,  vivid  and  real  with  all  their  living 
details ;  desires  entering  his  heart  immediately  took 
objective  forms  in  his  mind,  representing  in  seemingly 
living  forms  the  objects  of  which  he  thought,  and 
thus  he  saw  many  beautiful  things  in  his  visions,  but 
also  many  horrible  sights,  for  no  man  is  without  evil, 
and  evil  thoughts  that  came  to  him  were  likewise 
represented  in  seemingly  real  but  horrible  forms. 


THE   MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     55 

What  is  this  plastic  power  of  the  imagination,  and 
what  do  men  mean  by  calHng  subjective  images 
'  merely  works  of  imagination '  ?  Can  we  imagine 
anything  that  does  not  exist  ?  Are  the  creations  of 
our  thoughts  less  real  to  us  than  the  things  which  the 
imagination  of  others  created  for  us  ?  Is  not  the 
universe  a  product  of  the  imagination  of  God,  and 
are  we  not  gods  in  our  own  inner  world,  able  to 
create  forms  from  the  substance  called  the  Astral 
Light  ? 

Gradually  Jehoshua  began  to  love  this  inner  life, 
where  he  found  a  world  as  large  as  the  outer  world, 
with  a  space  as  infinite  as  that  of  the  latter,  with 
mountains  and  plains,  with  oceans  and  rivers,  and 
peopled  with  beings  of  various  kinds  that  looked  up 
to  him  as  their  god,  their  creator,  drawing  life  from 
his  Will,  and  nourishment  from  his  Thought,  in  the 
same  sense  as  Man  receives  his  will-power  and  ideas 
from  the  God  in  the  universe,  appearing  to  him  in  his 
dreams  while  asleep,  and  in  visions  while  awake. 
Thus  Jehoshua  lived  in  the  world  of  the  Elemental 
Powers  of  Nature,  and  began  to  know  the  con- 
stituent parts  of  that  organism  called  the  human 
soul. 

Weeks,  perhaps  months,  thus  passed  away.  Who 
knows  how  long  he  remained  in  that  tomb  ?  He 
kept  no  record  of  the  days  and  nights  since  he  had 
entered  there,  and  what  is  time  and  space,  after  all, 
but  merely  mental  conceptions  by  which  we  attempt 
to  measure  the  Infinite  ?  But  one  day  steps  were 
heard  to  approach ;  the  door  which  had  been  closed 


56  THE   LIFE  OF  JEHOSHUA 

so  long  opened,  and  the  Thesmophores  entered,  con- 
gratulating him  on  his  success  and  inviting  him  to 
come  to  the  Portal  of  Man,  to  enter  as  a  Neophyte 
into  the  first  degree  of  the  holy  Brotherhood. 

They  entered  a  large  park,  through  which  they 
passed,  until  they  arrived  at  an  entrance  called  the 
Door  of  the  Profane.  There  they  found  a  great  many 
people  assembled  who  had  been  attracted  by  curiosity 
to  see  the  new  candidate  for  initiation,  for  such  a  rare 
event  was  not  kept  secret,  as  it  was  desired  that  the 
people  should  know  that  there  were  still  men  to 
be  found  ready  to  dare  all  dangers  in  search  of  the 
truth.  They  thronged  the  place  in  front  of  the 
door  through  which  Jehoshua  passed  with  his  guide, 
on  his  way  to  the  Temple  of  Wisdom ;  they  shouted 
and  made  much  noise,  obstructing  the  way ;  but  the 
Thesmophores  drove  them  back,  and  they  passed 
safely  through  the  crowd. 

Having  entered  the  vestibule  of  the  temple,  the 
candidate  was  taken  to  a  Crypt,  where  he  took  a  bath, 
and  received  new  garments,  and  underwent  the 
prescribed  preparation  to  be  introduced  to  the 
assembly  of  the  Brothers. 

The  Portal  of  Man  was  guarded  by  the  Pasto- 
phores,  who,  as  they  arrived,  inquired  about  their 
purpose  and  asked  Jehoshua  various  questions. 
Having  received  satisfactory  replies,  the  door  opened, 
and  he  entered  a  large  hall,  wherein  in  a  semicircle 
were  seated  the  Brothers,  and  in  their  midst  the 
Hierophant.  Before  this  assembly  Jehoshua  again 
passed  an  examination,  answering  numerous  questions 


THE   MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     57 

in  regard  to  his  subjective  experiences  during  his 
isolation. 1 

He  was  then  led  around  the  Bisantha,  and  there 
the  strength  of  his  nerves  and  his  physical  courage 
was  tried  by  certain  methods  which  cannot  be  made 
intelligible  to  the  modern  reader,  because  they  in- 
volved an  employment  of  certain  forces  of  nature, 
the  secret  of  which  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
Atlanteans  and  Egyptians,  but  whose  very  existence 
is  as  yet  unknown  to  western  civilisation.  It  may  be 
sufficient  to  say,  that  if  claps  of  thunder  resounded 
and  bolts  of  lightning  seemed  to  strike  the  candidate,^ 
they  were  not  produced  in  the  manner  employed  in 
theatrical  performances  upon  the  stage,  but  they  were 
the  effects  of  natural  forces,  set  into  action  by  the 
occult  powers  possessed  by  the  Egyptian  Adepts. 
The  most  horrible  spectres  appeared,  but  Jehoshua 
was  not  afraid. 

Having  successfully  passed  through  this  trial,  he 
was  again  taken  before  the  assembly,  and  the  Menies 
read  to  him  the  laws  of  the  Grata  Repoa,  which,  after 
due  examination,  he  solemnly  promised  to  obey.^  By 
a  certain  process  known  to  the  Hierophant,  his  spiritua.1 
vision  was  then  opened ;  that  is  to  say,  he  was 
endowed  for  a  short  time  with  the  powers  to  see 
certain  spiritual  verities  represented  in  allegorical 
forms.  He  found  himself  standing  between  two 
square  columns,  called  Betiles,  and  there  was  a  ladder 

'  Plutarch   in  Lseon.  '  Apoph.  verb.  Lysand.' 
'  Eusebius'  Caesar,  Preparat.  Evangel. 
^Alexander  ah  Alexandra,  Lib.  V.  Cap.  10. 


58  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

with  seven  steps  ^  and  eight  closed  doors}  As  he 
beheld  that  vision,  its  meaning  was  at  once  clear  to 
him,  for  spiritual  visions  differ  from  mere  dreams 
especially  in  so  far  that  he  who  beholds  a  symbolical 
vision  becomes  at  the  same  time  aware  of  its  meaning, 
else  it  would  be  useless  to  show  such  a  vision  to  him. 
In  that  short  moment,  during  which  his  inner  sight 
was  opened,  Jehoshua  learned  to  know  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  Cosmos,  a  science  which 
would  require  many  months  of  instruction  to  be 
described  in  words  and  to  be  brought  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  not  self-luminous  intellect. 

The  Hierophant  then  spoke  as  follows  :  '  I  am 
speaking  only  to  you  who  have  the  right  and  the 
power  to  hear  me.  Firmly  close  all  the  doors  ^  and 
exclude  all  the  profanes,  the  sophists  and  scoffers  * ; 
but  you,  children  of  the  celestial  labour,^  hear  my 
words  :  Beware  of  passions  and  evil  desires ;  beware 
of  erroneous  opinions  and  intellectual  prejudices. 
Keep  your  mind  continually  directed  toward  the 
divine  source  of  all  existence,  strive  after  a  continual 
realisation  of  the  presence  of  the  Supreme ;  and  if 
you  desire  to  walk  upon  the  Path  of  Light  to  eternal 
Happiness,  do  not  forget  for  even  one  moment,  that 
you  are  living  in  the  consciousness  of  Him  whose 
power  has  created  the  world.  He  is  all  things,  and 
all  things  are  in  Him.  He  is  self-existent,  pure 
knowledge,  pure  wisdom;  and  although  He  is  seen  by 

'  Eusebius'  Demonstr.  Evang.  Lib.  I.  ^  The  external  senses. 

^  Origines  cent.  Cels.  p.  341.  *  Prejudices. 

*  Spiritual  perception. 


THE    MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     59 

no  man,  there  is  nothing  within  the  Universe  that  can 
hide  itself  from  His  sight.'  ^ 

Jehoshua  had  now  become  a  member  of  the 
Egyptian  Brotherhood.  He  was  taught  the  laws  of 
Nature,  and  made  to  see  that  there  is  nothing  dead  in 
Nature,  but  that  all  forms  are  manifestations  of  the 
one  universal  power  of  Life.  He  was  taught  the 
causes  of  the  physical  phenomena  occurring  in  the 
world  of  phenomena,  the  nature  of  Light  and  Sound, 
of  Heat  and  Electricity,  etc.  He  was  also  instructed 
in  Astronomy  and  Medicine  and  in  the  science  of 
Hieroglyphics.^ 

The  spiritual  nature  of  Man  was  explained  to  him 
and  the  laws  of  Reincarnation.  How  the  human 
monad  again  and  again  descends  to  build  up  a  mortal 
physical  form  and  to  evolve  a  new  personality  at  each 
of  its  visits  upon  this  globe;  that  the  human  forms, 
which  we  know  as  men,  women,  and  children,  are  not 
the  real  Man,  but  merely  ever-changing  aggregations 
of  matter,  endowed  with  an  ever-changing  conscious- 
ness, unsubstantial  although  living  illusions,  doomed 
to  perish  when  the  Spirit  retires  to  its  home,  to  rest 
from  its  labour ;  while  the  substantial,  indivisible, 
and  incorruptible  Spirit  is  the  real  Man,  although 
invisible  to  the  perception  of  mortals. 

He  was  taught  the  signification  of  the  sacred 
syllable    aum^    and    of    certain     symbolical    signs,* 

^  Eusebius'  Preparat.  Evangel.  I.  i.  3. 
"  J aniblichus,  In  Vita  Pythagor. 
^Plutarch,  De  Iride  et  Osiride. 
^  J  aniblichus,  In  Vita  Pythagor. 


60  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

including  the  double-interlaced  Triangle,  the  Snake, 
and  the  Tau,  and  his  office  was  to  guard  the  Portal 
of  Man,  so  that  nothing  impure  would  enter;  for  no 
one  was  ever  admitted  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  inner 
temple,  unless  he  first  proved  himself  a  faithful 
guardian  of  that  door  by  which  evil  thoughts  and 
desires  attempt  to  enter  the  mind. 

A  year  or  more  may  have  thus  passed  away,  when 
the  new  Pastophores  obtained  permission  to  enter 
the  second  degree,  called  Necoris.  As  a  preparation 
for  this  degree  he  had  to  undergo  a  severe  fasting, 
after  which  he  was  introduced  into  a  grotto,  called 
Endymion. 

This  grotto  was  furnished  in  a  luxuriant  manner. 
It  was  without  windows,  but  lamps  that  were  sus- 
pended from  the  ceiling,  and  fed  with  perfumed  oil, 
shed  a  soft  light  through  the  room.  The  richest  food 
and  the  most  delicious  wines  were  set  before  the  candi- 
date, and  he  was  invited  to  partake ;  for  now — so  they 
told  him — he  had  won  the  victory,  and  he  might  now 
indulge  in  sensual  pleasures  without  any  risk  of  sin. 
The  most  beautiful  maidens  waited  upon  him,  and 
their  bewitching  smiles  told  him  that  he  had  only  to 
mention  a  wish,  to  see  it  fulfilled.  It  was  evident 
that  he  was  an  object  of  admiration  to  them,  and  that 
they  were  willing  to  be  his  slaves. 

But  Jehoshua  resisted  their  tempting  wiles.  His 
aspirations  were  for  something  far  higher  than  the 
gratification  of  sensual  appetites ;  the  beauty  of  cor- 
poreal form,  however  pleasing  it  may  be  to  the  eye, 
could  not  enslave  him  who  had  learned  to  know  the 


THE    MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     61 

beauty  of  the  Spirit,  and  as  the  evening  approached, 
the  fair  tempters,  with  looks  full  of  disappointment 
and  unfulfilled  desire,  disappeared  one  after  another, 
and  Jehoshua,  after  securely  locking  the  door,  threw 
himself  upon  a  couch. 

While  he  was  meditating  there,  a  slight  noise 
attracted  his  attention,  and  he  saw  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  females  that  mortal  eye  ever  beheld,  entering 
through  a  secret  door,  whose  existence  had  escaped 
his  observation.  She  was  of  most  noble  appearance 
and  stately  form,  clad  in  loose,  flowing  garments,  and 
with  a  sparkling  diadem  upon  her  head.  Thus  may 
have  looked  the  chaste  goddess  Diana,  when  she 
watched  the  sleeping  Endymion.  An  expression  full 
of  pity  and  love  rested  upon  her  face,  as  she  ap- 
proached the  couch  where  Jehoshua  rested. 

'  Fear  nothing,'  she  said ;  '  I  do  not  come  to  tempt, 
but  to  save  thee.  I  am  the  daughter  of  the  guardian 
of  this  temple,  and  I  have  learned  the  danger  which  is 
threatening  thee.  Dost  thou  not  know  that  these 
villainous  priests  have  resolved  to  kill  thee  ?  for  thou 
hast  forfeited  thy  life  by  learning  some  of  their  mys- 
teries. Thou,  a  foreigner,  hast  learned  secrets  which 
no  one  but  the  Egyptians  are  permitted  to  know. 
This  evening  they  have  resolved  to  kill  thee,  and  the 
murder  is  to  be  executed  even  to-night.  I  have  come 
to  save  thee ;  I  have  made  sure  thy  escape :  rise  and 
follow  me,  for  I  admire  thy  valour  and  I  do  not  wish 
thee  to  perish.' 

'  Beautiful  one,'  answered  Jehoshua,  *  I  will  not 
dispute  thy  words ;  but  if  the  priests  have  resolved  to 


62  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

kill  me,  let  them  do  so ;  for  I  have  promised  to  obey 
the  laws  of  this  brotherhood,  and  I  have  no  right  to 
escape.' 

'  Is  there  not,'  answered  the  temptress,  '  a  higher 
law  than  the  laws  made  by  these  priests  ?  Is  there 
not  the  law  of  nature,  superior  to  all  other  laws  ? 
Does  not  the  law  of  thy  nature  permit  and  command 
thee  to  save  thy  life  ? ' 

'  Spare  thy  words,'  answered  Jehoshua.  '  I  know 
my  duty.  I  shall  remain  and  await  whatever  my  fate 
may  be.' 

'  Then,'  said  the  lady,  '  I  must  tell  thee  what  my 
modesty  forbids  me  to  say.  It  is  not  the  life  of  a 
fugitive  that  I  came  to  offer  to  thee,  but  a  life  of 
unbounded  love,  a  life  of  happiness  and  of  luxury. 
Yes,'  she  continued  after  a  pause,  drawing  still  nearer 
to  him  and  putting  her  soft  white  hand  upon  his 
shoulder,  '  I  love  thee.  Look  into  my  eyes  and  see 
whether  or  not  what  I  am  telling  is  true.  Wilt  thou 
bury  thy  manhood  in  these  living  tombs,  to  seek  after 
things  which  exist  merely  in  thy  imagination  ?  Come 
with  me  and  I  will  give  thee  a  substantial  happiness 
far  superior  to  any  that  thou  mayest  find  within  these 
gloomy  walls.  Can  there  be  any  greater  happiness 
for  a  man  than  the  love  of  a  beautiful  woman  ?  I  am 
rich,  I  am  free,  I  am  beautiful ;  I  love  thee  with  all 
the  passionate  love  of  which  woman  is  capable.  Come 
with  me,  and  thou  shalt  never  repent  it.' 

*  Fair  one,'  answered  Jehoshua,  '  all  the  earthly 
elements  of  my  material  nature  are  striving  to  fly  to 
thy  embrace  ;  but  they  are  held  by  the  superior  will 


THE   MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD    63 

of  the  spirit.  I  do  not  seek  for  happiness  within  these 
walls,  nor  could  I  find  contentment  in  the  things 
which  thou  offerest  to  me.  I  seek  for  happiness  in 
that  which  is  not  subject  to  change  ;  that  which  thou 
canst  give  is  subject  to  decay.     I  reject  thy  offer.' 

*  Dare  to  reject  it ! '  answered  the  woman.  '  Dost 
thou  know  what  a  woman  whose  love  is  spurned  can 
do  ?  I  shall  not  leave  thee,  for  my  soul  clings  to 
thee ;  to  be  separated  from  thee  would  be  death ! ' 
As  she  spoke  these  words,  she  drew  a  dagger  from  her 
belt  and  pointed  it  to  her  breast.  *  Spurn  my  love,' 
she  said,  '  and  this  weapon  will  enter  my  heart !  I 
will  not  live  without  thee ;  but  if  I  die,  my  death  will 
also  cost  thee  thy  life ;  for  if  my  dead  body  is  found 
in  this  grotto  to-morrow,  thou  wilt  be  accused  of  being 
my  murderer,  and  be  executed  for  it.'  Seeing  that 
her  threats  had  no  effect  upon  the  Neophyte,  she 
threw  the  dagger  upon  the  floor,  and,  sinking  down  at 
his  feet,  implored  him  for  his  love.  She  tore  away 
her  veil,  and  her  luxuriant  hair  dropped  over  her 
shoulders ;  tears  streamed  from  her  eyes,  and  her 
appeals  ended  in  sobs. 

'  Depart ! '  sternly  answered  Jehoshua,  and  the  fair 
one  arose  and  retreated ;  but  as  she  disappeared  from 
sight,  another  door  opened,  and  a  stream  of  light 
entered  the  room.  The  Hierophant  and  some  of  the 
Brothers  appeared  at  the  entrance,  and  congratulating 
him  on  the  victory  which  he  had  gained,  they  led  him 
to  a  large  hall,  where,  after  submitting  to  the  cere- 
mony of  baptism,  he  was  pronounced  to  be  worthy  to 
be  admitted  to  a  higher  degree. 


64  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Thus  should  he,  who  is  the  guardian  of  the  door, 
beware  that  no  secret  entrance  is  left  open,  by  which  a 
favourite  passion  may  enter;  and  if  the  temptress 
should  enter  unaware,  during  his  slumber,  he  should 
call  to  his  aid  the  superior  power  of  his  awakened  Will, 
and  repel  her.  Then  will  the  door  of  his  soul  open, 
and  Reason  will  enter  and  guide  him  by  the  light  of 
Divine  Wisdom  nearer  to  permanent  Peace. 


THE 

MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD 

(Continued) 

To  learn  the  mysteries  of  the  Spirit,  we  must  descend  into  the 
subterranean  caves  where  the  treasures  are  hidden. 

After  a  few  days  of  rest  and  contemplation,  Jehoshua 
was  told  that  the  time  had  arrived  when  his  courage 
and  daring  would  have  to  undergo  a  severe  trial.  His 
eyes  were  again  blindfolded,  and  he  was  taken  to  a 
subterranean  cave,  into  which  he  had  to  descend  by 
means  of  a  ladder.  Having  arrived  at  the  bottom, 
he  removed  the  bandage  from  his  eyes,  according  to 
the  directions  he  had  previously  received ;  but  he 
could  see  no  light.  The  cavern  was  dark,  and  at  first 
he  could  not  discern  any  objects ;  but  he  heard  hiss- 
ing sounds  close  by  his  side.  He  made  a  few  steps  in 
advance,  and  stepped  upon  a  living  thing  that  was 
gliding  over  the  floor,  and  which  immediately  wriggled 
itself  around  his  leg.  Then  the  fact  immediately 
came  to  his  consciousness  that  he  was  in  a  den  of 
serpents,  and  that  to  faint  would  mean  to  be  lost. 
Gradually  his  eyes  became  accustomed  to  the  deep 
darkness,  and  he  discerned  the  eyes  and  forms  of  the 
reptiles  that  lurked  in  all  the  corners.  The  cavern 
seemed  to  be  filled  with  snakes  of  all  kinds.    Twisted 


66  THE   LIFE  OF  JEHOSHUA 

together  in  disgusting  knots,  some  were  lying  on  the 
floor,  and  others  wormed  themselves  over  the  rocks. 
He  seated  himself  upon  a  stone,  and  soon  the  snakes 
began  to  approach,  as  if  to  resent  his  presence.  They 
crawled  over  his  legs,  twisted  themselves  around  his 
arms  and  all  over  his  body. 

At  first  Jehoshua  was  horrified  ;  but  his  horror  was 
only  of  a  moment's  duration,  for  he  immediately 
called  to  his  aid  his  higher  consciousness  and  re- 
membered that  his  terrestrial  form,  subject  to  the 
disgusting  embraces  of  the  crawling  reptiles,  and  made 
of  the  same  stufi"  as  they,  was  not  his  real  Self,  but 
merely  a  form  to  which  he — the  divine  Man — was  for 
the  time  being  attached.  This  thought  enabled  him 
to  look  upon  everything  that  might  happen  to  his  body 
as  if  he  were  an  independent  spectator.  In  this  way 
he  appealed  for  aid  to  his  own  God,  and  as  he  did  so, 
a  superior  strength,  a  power  unknown  before,  seemed 
to  pervade  his  whole  body,  and  now  it  seemed  as  if 
this  power  had  invested  him  with  some  property  that 
made  him  repulsive  to  the  serpents;  for  soon  the 
reptiles  that  were  in  contact  with  his  body  left  him 
and  retired  into  their  holes. 

Thus  if  man  descends  to  the  innermost  depths  of 
his  soul,  he  may  find  it  infested  with  poisonous  ser- 
pents and  venomous  reptiles,  the  symbols  of  the  brood 
of  passions  and  evil  desires ;  but  if  he  calls  to  his  aid 
the  divine  spirit  of  Wisdom,  the  persecutions  will 
cease  and  peace  will  return. 

After  having  passed  through  this  severe  trial,  he  was 
released  from  his  prison  and  led  again  to  the  temple. 


THE    MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     67 

For  a  second  time  his  spiritual  eyes  were  opened  by 
the  magic  power  of  the  Hierophant,  and  he  was  made 
to  behold  in  his  vision  a  Griffin  and  a  turning  wheel 
with  four  spokes.  Then  the  whole  process  of  Evolu- 
tion became  clear  to  his  understanding,  and  he  saw 
how,  in  the  course  of  millions  of  ages,  worlds  upon 
worlds  had  been  evolved  from  the  incomprehensible 
centre.  He  beheld  waves  of  Life  passing  from  planet 
to  planet,  and  each  fiery  orb,  each  globe,  each  solar 
system,  had  peculiar  forms  of  its  own,  and  all  these 
various  forms  were  manifestations  of  one  and  the 
same  Supreme  Power,  that  men  call  '  God,'  and 
formed  out  of  its  own  substance. 

The  air,  the  earth,  and  the  water  were  filled  with 
forms  of  life,  having  bodies  of  a  kind  of  matter  too 
refined  to  be  seen  by  mortal  eyes.  Some  were 
luminous,  others  dark,  and  the  regions  above  the 
sphere  of  the  Earth  were  inhabited  by  beings  of  a 
seemingly  supernatural  beauty.  He  saw  the  Nature- 
spirits  of  the  four  elements.  He  saw  what  Man  had 
been  in  the  distant  past  and  what  he  would  be  at  a 
future  period  of  time  far  beyond  the  calculation  of 
mortals.  He  saw  how  the  gross  material  elements 
of  which  the  Earth  is  now  composed,  would  in  the 
far-distant  future  be  changed  into  a  substance  of  a 
superior  and  ethereal  kind,  so  that  what  we  now  call 
'Earth'  would  be  like  water,  and  what  we  call' Water' 
like  air,  and  what  we  call  'Air'  like  the  ether  of 
space,  and  with  the  transformation  of  all  things, 
Man  himself  would  enter  into  a  superior  state  of 
existence. 

r  2 


68  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

The  science  which  deals  with  these  problems  is 
far  too  grand  and  extensive  to  be  more  than  merely- 
touched  upon  in  these  pages,  nor  would  it  benefit 
the  uninitiated  reader,  if  we  were  to  enter  into  its 
details ;  for  as  long  as  the  interior  perception  which 
enables  men  to  perceive  these  things  is  not  opened, 
such  a  discussion  will  be  a  mere  matter  of  specula- 
tion, serving  more  for  amusement  than  for  the  attain- 
ment of  knowledge. 

In  this  degree  he  was  taught  the  great  law  of 
Karma;  that  is  to  say,  the  law  of  Cause  and  Effect, 
not  merely  upon  the  physical  plane,  where  the  law  of 
Mechanics  exists,  but  in  that  higher  realm,  where 
divine  Justice  rules  supreme,  where  Good  finds  its 
own  reward,  and  Evil  its  own  punishment.  He  saw 
that  whatever  man  may  think  or  do,  would  produce  a 
corresponding  reaction  upon  himself,  and  that  he  who 
benefited  others  is  thereby  benefiting  himself,  while 
he  who  injures  others  is  thereby  decreeing  his  own 
punishment.  He  saw  that  the  acts  of  men  are  the 
external  symbols  of  their  interior  lives,  and  that  every 
thought  and  act  has  a  tendency  to  repeat  itself. 
Thoughts  seemed  to  him  like  beings  struggling  for 
life,  seeking  to  become  embodied  in  acts ;  and  if  they 
were  thus  once  embodied,  they  clung  to  their  life  in  the 
same  way  as  man  clings  to  his,  but  the  power  which 
invested  these  thoughts  with  life  was  the  Will,  and 
unless  man's  thoughts  were  kept  alive  by  his  Will, 
they  died  and  putrefied  like  the  corporeal  things 
upon  the  physical  plane. 

The  password  of   this  degree  was  Heve^  and  its 


THE   MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD    69 

understanding  conveyed  a  knowledge  of  the  bisexual 
nature  of  aboriginal  Man.^ 

The  length  of  time  during  which  the  Necoris  had 
to  remain  in  the  second  degree,  before  he  was 
permitted  to  enter  the  third,  called  Melanephores, 
depended  on  his  own  progress.  Many  never  attained 
any  higher  than  the  second  degree;  but  those  who 
were  permitted  to  advance  higher  had  to  pass  through 
the  Portal  of  Death;  for  this  was  the  name  of  the 
door  through  which  they  who  desired  to  obtain 
powers  which  belong  to  a  higher  than  merely  personal 
existence  had  to  enter,  before  they  could  acquire 
them. 

Without  hesitation  Jehoshua  followed  those  who 
were  appointed  to  guide  him.  They  descended  into 
the  tombs,  where  the  mummies  were  kept,  and  which 
were  to  be  a  living  tomb  to  him,  if  he  did  not  succeed 
in  liberating  himself  therefrom  by  his  own  magic 
power.  The  room  which  he  entered  was  filled  with 
corpses  of  the  dead,  while  in  the  midst  of  the 
chamber  stood  the  sarcophagus  of  Osiris  still  over- 
flowing with  blood.  The  Paraskites — i.e.  the  men 
who  opened  the  bodies  of  the  dead — and  the  Herd — 
who  attended  to  the  embalming — were  at  their  work. 
From  thence  he  entered  into  another  room,  where  he 
was  met  by  all  the  Melattep hares,  dressed  in  black. 
They  took  him  before  the  King,  and  the  latter, 
addressing  him  in  a  very  kind  manner,  advised  him 
to  desist  from  further  attempts  to  penetrate  still 
deeper   into   the  mysteries,  and  to  remain   satisfied 

'  Clem.  Alexander,  In  Protept. 


70  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

with  that  which  he  had  already  gained.  He  praised 
the  Neophyte  for  his  courage  and  virtues  and  told 
him  that  it  were  better  for  him  now  to  remain 
contented  and  to  desist  from  further  research.  He 
told  him  that  if  he  would  do  so,  he  would  be  highly 
honoured  by  all  on  account  of  the  knowledge  he  had 
already  gained ;  and  in  token  of  the  high  esteem 
in  which  he  held  the  Neophyte,  the  king  took  his 
own  golden  crown  from  his  head  and  offered  it  to 
him.  But  Jehoshua,  understanding  the  meaning  of 
this  symbol,  threw  the  crown  down  upon  the  floor  and 
stepped  upon  it  with  his  foot,  saying  that  it  was 
not  his  object  to  be  admired  and  to  gratify  his 
ambition  for  fame  or  to  be  praised  by  men ;  but  that 
he  desired  wisdom  and  desired  it  for  its  own  sake 
alone. 

As  he  did  so,  a  cry  of  indignation  arose  from 
those  present  and  a  ceremony  took  place  which  upon 
the  external  plane  represented  the  well-known  internal 
truth,  that  Ambition  is  the  king  of  all  passions  and 
that  to  give  up  one's  Ambition  is  like  giving  up  one's 
own  self;  for  man's  soul  being  made  up  to  a  great 
extent  of  desires,  dies  the  mystic  death,  when  he  kills 
his  ruling  desire.  It  is  then  '  as  if  the  heart  were 
bleeding  and  the  whole  life  of  man  seems  to  be 
utterly  dissolved.'  ^ 

This  was  the  terrible  ordeal  through  which 
Jehoshua  had  to  pass,  and  it  is  the  ordeal  through 
which  every  one  will  have  to  pass,  before  he  can 
enter  the  Temple  of  Wisdom. 

'  M.  C.  '  Light  on  the  Path.' 


THE   MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD    71 

Let  not  the  reader  suppose  that  we  are  describing 
a  farce,  such  as  may  be  seen  enacted  in  some  lodge  of 
some  modern  '  secret  society.'  Whether  the  events 
described  in  these  pages  ever  took  place  on  the  exter- 
nal or  on  the  internal  plane,  or  on  both,  the  reader 
may  decide  for  himself.  If  such  things  are  enacted 
merely  externally  without  taking  place  internally,  then 
they  are  mere  shams.  Every  external  act  which  is 
not  a  true  representation  of  internal  life  is  a  sham, 
and  our  modern  civilisation  is  made  up  of  such  shams. 
Our  secret  societies  have  come  into  possession  of  some 
of  the  forms  and  ceremonies  used  by  the  ancient 
Egyptians ;  but  they  have  merely  the  form ;  the 
spirit  went  away  long  ago. 

The  judgment  of  the  departed  soul  before  Pluto, 
Rhadamantes,  and  Minos  was  then  enacted ;  for  when 
the  king  of  Ambition  in  the  soul  of  man  dies,  his 
daughter  Vanity  dies  with  him,  and  in  its  place  arises 
a  sense  of  one's  unworthiness.  The  accusing,  judging, 
and  revenging  angels  then  appear  in  the  soul,  until 
the  tortured  heart  sends  its  despairing  cries  to  the 
Redeemer,  the  Truth ;  when  the  celestial  powers 
awaken  within,  to  comfort  the  soul  and  guide  her  to 
the  harbour  of  Peace. 

During  this  process  or  ceremony  the  whole  of 
Jehoshua's  past  life,  with  all  the  minutest  details  that 
ever  took  place  within  his  mental  organisation, 
appeared  before  his  vision  ;  but  when  the  initiation 
was  ended,  he  knew  that  the  lower  elements  within 
his  soul  had  died  and  that  he  himself  had  been 
changed    into    another    being.      He    then    received 


72       .      THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

the  special  instructions  belonging  to  this  degree, 
and  he  was  especially  shown  the  sanctity  of  all 
life  and  the  full  meaning  of  the  words  :  '  Thou  shall 
not  kill.' 

While  he  remained  in  this  degree,  the  hierogram- 
matical  art  of  writing,  the  history  of  Egypt,  geography, 
cosmology,  and  astronomy  were  taught  him ;  but  his 
principal  occupation,  in  this  as  in  all  other  degrees, 
was  the  cultivation  of  the  power  of  Intuition,  by 
which  man  may  know  the  truth  and  attain  wisdom, 
independent  of  books  or  external  information  and 
without  the  necessity  of  adopting  the  opinions  of 
others. 

For  a  long  time  Jehoshua  remained  in  tombs, 
attending  to  the  disposal  of  the  bodies  of  the  dead ; 
nor  was  any  one  of  the  members  of  this  degree  ever 
permitted  to  leave  them  during  the  rest  of  their  natural 
lives,  unless  they  attained  that  magic  power,  known  to 
the  Adept,  by  which  the  astral  body  of  man  may 
leave  at  will  the  prison  house  of  terrestrial  body. 
Those  who  were  not  able  to  acquire  this  power  had 
to  remain  in  their  tombs,  and  their  duty  was  to 
attend  to  the  embalming  and  the  burial  of  the 
dead. 

Thus  the  souls  of  those  who  are  incapable  of 
entering  a  higher  state  of  consciousness  during  their 
terrestrial  lives,  will  have  to  remain  within  their  living 
tombs  of  gross  matter,  overshadowed  by  the  darkness 
of  ignorance,  engaged  in  ministering  to  that  which  is 
worthless  and  without  eternal  life,  and  to  preserve 
from   decay   useless   memories   of   terrestrial  things. 


THE    MYSTERIOUS   BROTHERHOOD     73 

They  will  continue  to  follow  their  worthless  occupa- 
tions and  be  serv^ants  of  empty  forms  and  illusions 
until  the  angel  of  death  releases  them  from  their 
prisons,  to  lead  them  from  the  darkness  of  matter  into 
the  eternal  darkness  beyond. 


THE    HIGHER    DEGREES 

He  who  thoroughly  knows  his  own  self,  knows  everything. 

In  attempting  to  describe  some  of  the  mysteries  of 
the  higher  degrees  in  the  Egyptian  Brotherhood,  we 
are  attempting  to  enter  upon  a  field  where  only  those 
can  enter  who  have  themselves  obtained  some  ex- 
perience of  practical  Occultism ;  for  how  could  the 
magic  processes  that  took  place  in  the  '  Battle  of  the 
Shadows '  be  described  to  persons  whose  knowledge 
consists  merely  of  the  information  they  have  received 
from  an  age  which  denies  that  magic  or  spiritual 
powers  exist  ?  It  will  require  perhaps  centuries  of 
scientific  investigation  before  our  sceptics  will  under- 
stand the  magic  power  of  the  spiritually  awakened 
Will,  and  before  they  can  be  brought  to  a  knowledge 
that  feats  of  Magic  do  not  belong  to  the  realm  of  the 
fable,  and  it  may  require  many  centuries  more,  before 
such  powers  will  become  the  property  of  the  many. 

Our  age  is  the  age  of  what  is  called  '  Reason,' 
i.e.  semi-animal  Reason,  not  enlightened  by  Divine 
Wisdom,  but  drawing  inferences  from  merely  external 
things.  It  is  ruled  by  those  powers  which  are  allegori- 
cally  represented  in  the  Bible  by  the  '  Pharisees  and 
the  Scribes,'  whose  knowledge  is  based  upon  deductions 
drawn  from  the  observation  of  illusive  appearances, 


THE    HIGHER   DEGREES  75 

which  they  mistake  for  the  Real,  while  the  real  is 
unknowable  to  them.  In  proportion  as  this  fallible 
reasoning  power  has  increased  in  strength,  have  men 
become  unconscious  of  true  Spirituality;  that  is  to 
say,  of  the  existence  of  a  power  to  perceive  spiritual 
and  fundamental  truths.  With  the  loss  of  spiritual 
knowledge  they  have  also  lost  the  spiritual  Power 
necessary  to  control  the  invisible  spiritual  forces. 
True  Gnostic  has  become  a  thing  of  the  past,  agnos- 
ticism raises  its  head  and  boasts  of  its  ignorance,  and 
Science  has  become  materialised  so  much  that  she 
can  deal  with  nothing  but  the  most  gross  and  sensually 
perceptible  things. 

And  yet  the  world  is  still  full  of  Magic.  The 
magic  power  of  Love  still  exercises  its  influence  over 
the  hearts ;  the  magic  of  Imagination  still  makes  men 
mournful  or  glad  ;  the  Will  of  the  strong  still  controls 
by  its  magic  power  the  mind  of  the  weak,  and  the 
foolish  are  still  ruled  by  the  superior  magic  power  of 
the  spirit  of  those  who  are  wise  ;  but  such  wonders 
like  that  of  the  growth  of  a  tree,  do  not  surprise  us, 
merely  because  we  are  accustomed  to  witness  them 
every  day. 

The  Egyptian  Adepts  and  Magicians  may  not 
have  been  in  possession  of  all  that  our  modern  science 
knows  in  regard  to  the  relations  which  exist  between 
external  phenomena ;  but  they  had  a  method,  known 
only  to  few  in  our  present  age,  to  develop  the  power 
to  look  into  that  realm  called  the  invisible,  but  which 
is  a  world  far  more  real  and  substantial  than  the 
so-called  visible  world.     Men  are  prone  to  jump  at 


76  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

conclusions  drawn  from  sensual  observation  and  to 
regard  the  visible  side  of  nature  as  the  actual  world 
and  to  reject  that  which  is  beyond  sensual  perception  ; 
but  even  a  superficial  reflexion  will  convince  man 
that  the  terms  'visible'  and  'invisible'  are  merely 
relative ;  for  whether  or  not  a  thing  may  be  seen  by 
us,  depends  not  merely  on  its  own  nature,  but  also  on 
the  construction  and  quality  of  the  organs  of  our 
perception.  What  may  be  seen  by  one,  may  be 
invisible  to  another  who  is  devoid  of  the  organ  of 
sight ;  and  what  may  be  invisible  to  many,  may  be 
visible  to  those  whose  inner  powers  of  perception  have 
become  open. 

The  fourth  degree  of  the  mysterious  Brotherhood 
was  called  '  The  Battle  of  the  Shadows'  ^  In  this 
degree  the  Christophores — as  he  was  now  called — was 
taught  the  nature  of  Good  and  Evil  and  how  to 
conquer  Evil  by  Good.  He  was  taught  how  to  cut 
off  the  head  of  the  beautiful  Gorgon,^  without  hesitating 
on  account  of  her  almost  supernaturally  beautiful 
form.  He  was  instructed  in  the  art  of  Necromancy, 
i.e.  the  art  to  deal  with  the  astral  bodies  of  the  dead 
and  with  those  dangerous  beings,  called  Elementals, 
who  inhabit  the  astral  world,  and  to  make  them  sub- 
servient to  their  will.  Woe  to  him  whom  the  power 
of  spiritual  Will  deserted  even  for  one  moment  during 
these  trials ;  the  principles  of  Evil  which  he  attempted 
to  subject  to  his  Will  would  then  become  his  masters, 
and  insanity  or  death  was  the  result. 

'  TertulUan,  '  De  Militis  Corona.' 
^  Medusa. 


THE   HIGHER   DEGREES  11 

There  is  no  relative  Good  without  relative  Evil. 
There  is  no  man  so  pure,  as  not  to  have  some  animal 
elements  within  his  constitution,  and  were  there  such  a 
man,  he  would  not  be  able  to  develop  higher ;  for  it  is 
this  very  animal  element  from  which  the  soul  of  man 
draws  its  nourishment  and  strength  to  rise  higher  and 
to  become  more  spiritual.  Not  to  destroy,  but  to 
make  use  of  the  elements  of  evil  in  man  for  the 
purpose  of  accomplishing  good,  is  the  object  of  the 
higher  education.  When  the  higher  life  begins  to 
awaken  within  the  soul  and  the  light  of  the  Spirit 
penetrates  into  the  regions  of  the  Elementals,  these 
animal  Egos  begin  to  revolt  and  to  rise  to  the 
surface.  They  may  even  appear  in  objective  form 
and  persecute  their  creator.  Then  the  dread 
Dweller  of  the  Threshold  may  show  his  face. 
He  is  nothing  else  but  a  product  of  man's  own 
imagination,  but  nevertheless  living  and  as  real 
as  any  other  living  thing  among  the  so-called 
realities  of  this  world,  and  if  the  candidate  for 
initiation  is  subject  to  fear,  he  may  become  his 
victim,  for  the  Dweller  of  the  Threshold  will  then 
again  and  with  increased  power  take  possession  of 
his  mind. 

There  is  a  region  in  the  soul  of  man  in  which 
such  Dwellers  reside.  In  very  degraded  persons  this 
region  swarms  with  living,  semi-developed  or  full- 
grown  animal  principles  and  subjective  monstrosities 
of  all  kinds,  and  under  certain  conditions,  especially  if 
the  physical  organism  is  weakened  by  disease,  they 
may — so  to  say — step  out  of  their  centre,  and  assume 


78  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

an  objective  form,  clothing  themselves  in  the  grosser 
elements  of  matter  and  becoming  visible  even  to  the 
external  senses.^ 

But  if  the  candidate  in  that  holy  Brotherhood 
succeeded  in  overcoming  all  these  obstacles,  he 
became  a  partaker  of  the  Demiurgos^  and  in  posses- 
sion of  absolute  Truth.^  The  bitter  cup  which  he  was 
made  to  drink,  caused  him  to  rise  above  all  earthly 
ills  arising  from  his  lower  nature,  and  he  received  his 
daily  food  from  the  King*  His  name  was  then 
entered  into  the  Book  of  Life,  and  he  became  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  country.  His  emblem  was  an  Owl, 
representing  Isis,  the  goddess  of  Nature ;  he  was  pre- 
sented with  a  palm  leaf  and  an  olive  branch,  the 
emblems  of  Peace.  The  '  password '  of  that  degree 
was  lOA,^  and  the  understanding  of  its  exoteric 
signification  involved  a  knowledge  of  the  creative 
principle  in  Nature.  Henceforth  he  received  his 
instructions  from  no  man,  but  from  the  Demiurgic 
Mind. 

He  who  had  attained  the  degree  of  Christophores 
was  entitled  to  apply  to  the  Demiurgos  for  the  still 
higher  degree  of  Balahate.  In  this  degree  he  was 
permitted  to  see  Typhoon*^  in  his  terrible  form;  of 
endless   extent,    containing    within   himself   all   that 


^  Abundant  evidence  of  such  cases  may  be  found  in  the  Acta 
Sanctorum,  although  the  accounts  related  therein  are  treated  as 
fables  even  by  the  clergy,  who  cannot  find  a  rational  explanation  for 
them.     Modern  Spiritualism  furnishes  similar  examples. 

-  The  creative  power  in  nature.  ^  Athenceus,  Lib.  9. 

"  Diodorus  Siculus,  Lib.  i.  '  Jehovah. 

^  Divinity. 


THE   HIGHER   DEGREES  79 

exists  in  the  Universe ;  the  All-creator  and  All- 
destroyer — 

'  With  eyes  and  faces,  infinite  in  form, 
The  everlasting  Cause,  a  mass  of  Light, 
In  every  region  hard  to  look  upon ; 

Bright  as  the  blaze  of  burning  fire  and  sun. 
On  every  side,  and  vast  beyond  all  bounds.' ' 

But  the  Balahate  had  awakened  to  a  full  conscious- 
ness of  the  immortal  principle  within,  and  was  no 
longer  terrified  to  see  the  destruction  of  all  changeable 
things.  He  now  knew  the  nature  of  the  Secret  Fire 
that  regenerates  the  world  and  which  renders  him 
who  comes  into  its  possession  immortal. 

In  the  sixth  degree  the  Adept  was  instructed  by 
the  Demiurgos  in  all  the  secrets  of  Astrology ;  that  is 
to  say,  in  the  science  of  the  spiritual  aspects  of  the 
stars ;  he  learned  to  know  the  directions  of  the 
spiritual  life-currents,  pervading  the  Soul  of  the 
Universe;  he  became  even  a  being  superior  to  the 
Devas  and  Angels  and  in  possession  of  all  spiritual 
powers. 

The  seventh  and  highest  degree,  called  Pancah, 
could  not  be  applied  for,  but  was  conferred  by  the 
power  of  divine  grace  upon  those  who  were  willing  to 
receive  it.  In  this  divine  degree,  the  holiest  of  holies, 
the  ultimate  mystery  was  revealed  to  the  spiritual 
perception  of  the  Adept.  He  received  a  Cross,  which 
he  had  to  wear  continually  during  his  terrestrial  life,^ 

*  /.  Davies,  Bhagavad  Gita,  xi.  14. 
"  Rufius,  Lib.  ii.  Cap.  29. 


80  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

the  hair  upon  his  head  was  cut  o£f,i  he  received  the 
key  to  the  understanding  of  all  the  mysteries,^  he 
obtained  the  privilege  to  elect  the  king  of  the  country,^ 
or — to  speak  in  plain  words  and  leave  off  allegorical 
expressions — his  soul  became  one  with  the  ruler  of 
All,  and  he  entered  into  the  essence  of  God. 

'  Pierius,  Lib.  32. 

^  Plutarch, '  De  amore  fraterno.' 

^  Synesus,  '  De  Providentia.' 


THE    WISDOM    RELIGION 

The  inner  laws  of    the  universe  can  be  known  by  studying    the 
inner  laws  of  that  little  world  called  '  Man.' 

It  has  not  been  ascertained  how  long  Jehoshua  Ben- 
Pandira  remained  in  Egypt,  nor  what  degrees  he 
attained  in  the  Holy  Brotherhood ;  but  it  is  believed 
that  he  underwent  many  of  the  severe  trials  to  which 
those  who  desire  to  be  initiated  into  the  mysteries 
were  subjected.  He  was  taught  many  of  these  sublime 
secrets,  or,  to  express  it  more  correctly  :  As  the  bud 
of  a  Lotus  flower  gradually  opens  under  the  influence 
of  the  sunlight,  so  his  mind  opened  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  divine  mysteries  of  the  Wisdom 
Religion.  He  perceived  that  God  had  a  spiritual  and 
a  material  aspect ;  that  He  is  all  things,  and  that  for 
this  cause  *  He  hath  many  names,  because  He  is  the 
One  Father,  and  that  He  also  hath  no  name,  for  He 
is  the  Father  of  All ' ;  ^ — that  this  one  and  universal 
Father  had  created  the  world  in  His  own  Mind, 
endowed  it  with  His  own  Life,  and  thrown  it  into 
objectivity  by  His  own  Will. 

He  perceived  and  realised  that  this  divine  essence 
which  caused  the  universe  to  take  form  and  to  grow, 
is  the  same  that  forms  the  corner-stone  of  the  living 

'  Hermes  Trismegistus,  V.  33. 

81  G 


82  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

temple  of  God,  called  Man,  and  that  the  essence 
constituting  the  foundation  and  the  innermost  centre 
of  Man  is  in  no  way  different  from  that  of  the 
universal  God,  and  that  therefore  *  earthly  man  is 
a  little  god  in  a  mortal  body,  while  the  God  of  the 
Universe  is  an  immortal  self-existent  Man.'  ^  He 
found  no  death  in  the  universe,  but  a  continual 
change  of  form,  while  the  Life  that  causes  these 
changes  of  form  remains  always  the  same.  That 
which  is  imperfect  has  to  be  remodelled  and  to 
become  perfect ;  but  that  which  is  perfect  and 
therefore  eternal  requires  no  further  change. 

He  saw  that  the  whole  of  Nature  is  a  thing  of 
Life,  subject — like  all  living  beings — to  periods  of 
activity  and  rest ;  that  after  a  day  of  activity,  lasting 
perhaps  for  millions  of  ages,  the  great  phantasmagoria 
constituting  the  universe  ceases  to  be  manifest,  and  is 
followed  by  a  night  of  equal  duration,  during  which 
all  things  exist  in  a  subjective  condition  in  the  mind 
of  the  creator,  until  '  God  '  again  awakens  from  his 
slumber,  to  speak  once  more  the  divine  command : 

LET  THERE   BE   LIGHT! 

Then  ends  the  night ;  the  mystic  Sun  appears, 
FiUing  all  space  with  Life  and  Harmony, 
With  Consciousness  and  Sound.     Again  begins 
The  Wheel  to  turn,  and  the  celestial  Powers, 
The  Master-builders  of  the  Universe,^ 
Whose  work  had  ceased  with  the  evening  tide, 

'  Ibid.  IV.  193.  ^  The  Dhyan  Chohans. 


THE   WISDOM    RELIGION  83 

Begin  again  their  labour.     Glowing  globes 

Of  radiant  matter,  luminous  and  bright, 

Condense  and  clothe  themselves  in  varied  hues, 

Evolving  shells  of  rocks  and  precious  stones. 

And  mother  earth  puts  on  her  festive  dress, 

To  bid  a  joyful  welcome  to  her  children. 

Plants,  animals,  appear ;  at  last  comes  Man, 

The  king,  a  spirit  of  ethereal  shape, 

Form'd  of  the  essence  that  produces  gods. 

Surrounded  by  the  paradise  which  God 

Created  in  his  sphere.     He  is  the  Lord 

Of  every  living  thing,  the  masterpiece 

Of  the  constructor  of  the  universe  ; 

His  substance  is  the  Light,  his  thoughts  divine. 

His  wisdom  great,  his  happiness  supreme. 

Thus  might  he  live  eternally,  in  bliss 

Unspeakable,  communing  with  himself. 

Unconscious  of  that  lower  sense  of  self. 

Which  causes  isolation  of  the  form. 

But  in  the  womb  of  Matter  dwells  desire, 

The  ancient  tempter.     Man  averts  his  eyes 

From  his  celestial  source,  and  he  begins 

To  sink  into  the  darkness.     Denser  grows 

And  more  compact  his  form,  as  he  descends 

To  seek  for  knowledge  in  the  realm  of  Matter. 

Imprisoned  in  the  form,  his  senses  close 

To  the  perception  of  celestial  things, 

And  senses  of  a  grosser  kind  appear, 

Fit  merely  to  behold  the  things  of  Earth, 

For  *  where  man's  treasure  is,  there  is  his  heart '  ; 

Uniting  with  the  object  he  desires, 

He  shares  its  nature.     The  immortal  soul 

Combin'd  with  mortal  clay  is  rendered  mortal. 

And  mortal  things  transformed  may  rise  up 

Beyond  the  region  of  mortaHty. 

Spirit  is  Life  ;  but  Matter  has  no  life, 

g2 


84  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

Which  it  may  claim  its  own  ;  the  source  of  Life 
Is  that  celestial  Sun,  invisible 
To  mortals,  but  eternal,  self-existent 
And  glorious,  in  whose  resplendent  rays 
All  beings  move  and  live,  by  whom  we  all 
Exist,  whose  altar  is  the  heart  of  Man. 
This  is  the  '  Fall  of  Man '  and  the  descent 
Of  the  bright  Spirit  to  the  realms  of  darkness, 
Occurring  now  as  in  those  ancient  times, 
When  Man  was  tempted  by  the  mythic  snake 
For  men  are  still  attracted  by  desire. 
Appearing  in  the  beauteous  form  of  lust, 
Or  in  the  shape  of  gold  or  love  of  fame, 
Appeahng  to  his  sense  of  selfishness, 
And  thus  degrading  him,  and  many  sink 
To  lower  depths,  while  others  rise  again 
By  throwing  off  desire  for  earthly  things, 
And  gaining  knowledge  of  celestial  truths 
By  bursting  through  the  misty  veil  of  matter 
That  hides  them  from  the  light. 

Desire  to  live 
And  to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  this  life 
, Produces  birth  in  living  mortal  forms; 
Then  follows  life  with  aU  its  sufferings, 
Its  evanescent  joys,  old  age,  and  death. 
And  all  the  ills  that  follow  those  whose  souls 
Remain  attach'd  to  matter ;   after  this 
Comes  birth  again,  and  thus  the  wheel  revolves 
Unceasingly. 

But  the  celestial  Sun 
Of  happiness  continues  to  shine. 
Sending  his  rays  of  love,  of  light,  and  life 
Into  the  hearts  of  men  and  filHng  them 
With  longings  for  their  former  state  of  bliss. 
And  some  perceive  the  light  and  hear  the  voice 


THE   WISDOM    RELIGION  85 

Of  wisdom  speaking  in  their  darkened  souls, 
Speaking  to  them  :    '  O  men  !    Let  there  be  Light ! ' 
And  waking  from  their  sleep  they  start  and  listen, 
Like  one  awakening  from  some  idle  dream. 
Some  realise  the  presence  of  the  Truth 
Within  their  hearts  and  follow  the  Redeemer, 
And  throwing  off  that  foolish  love  of  self, 
Their  minds  expand  beyond  the  narrow  limits 
Of  personality.     Then  can  the  prison  house 
Of  flesh  no  longer  hold  the  glorious  spirit. 
Which  gained  freedom  from  the  love  of  self. 

This  is  the  history  of  man's  redemption 
Without  a  passport  from  a  man-made  priest. 
The  great  Redeemer  speaks  to  every  man, 
But  many  hear  the  voice  and  sink  again 
To  sleep,  preferring  darkness  to  the  light. 

What  is  the  cause  of  all  our  suffering. 

But  the  desires  that  chain  us  to  the  flesh  ? 

No  one  is  free,  but  he  who  has  outHved 

All  love  of  earthly  things,  all  love  of  self. 

What  are  the  forms  of  life  that  please  the  eye, 

But  evanescent  clouds  ?    and  what  is  man 

In  his  corporeal  form  but  air  and  dust  ? 

He  lords  the  earth  to-day  and  feeds  the  worms 

Of  earth  to-morrow.     Who  but  God  can  claim 

To  be  immortal  ?    Therefore  seek  the  God 

Who  speaks  within  thy  heart,  and  say  with  him  : 

'  Let  there  be  Light ! ' — Seek  for  the  light  that  shines 

Within  thy  heart  and  learn  to  know  thyself. 

Learn  to  adore,  and  thou  shalt  find  the  Truth. 


THE    TEMPTATION 

There  is  no  absolute  evil.  A  house  divided  against  itself  would 
fall :  an  evil  power,  being  evil  in  the  absolute,  would  be  evil  in  regard 
to  itself  and  destroy  itself.  Evil  is  necessary  to  afford  experience, 
and  experience  leads  to  ultimate  good  ;  but  those  who  employ  evil 
means  to  attain  good  results  associate  themselves  with  evil,  and  by 
creating  evil  will  perish  with  it. 

Jehoshua  had  attained  in  Egypt  some  of  the 
lower  degrees  of  Adeptship,  when  he  was  advised 
by  his  superiors  to  return  to  Palestine  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  the  truth  to  his  countrymen  and  to  lift 
them  up  from  their  state  of  degradation  and  super- 
stition ;  for  practical  occultism  does  not  consist  in 
merely  leading  a  life  of  contemplation  and  virtue  and 
attending  to  one's  own  spiritual  culture.  To  do  so 
would  after  all  be  only  a  refined  state  of  selfishness. 
It  is  equally  necessary  to  do  external  work ;  that  is 
to  say,  to  work  for  the  benefit  of  others,  to  help  to 
drive  back  the  powers  of  darkness  and  ignorance,  to 
assist  in  the  work  of  ennobling  mankind,  and  to  raise 
it  up  to  a  higher  level  in  the  scale  of  evolution. 

Such  a  work  for  others  brings  with  it  its  own 
reward ;  for  as  it  has  been  well  said  by  one  of  the 
greatest  thinkers  and  poets,^  '  A  quiet  life  in  a  soli- 
tude is  useful  for  the  development  of  one's  talents ; 

'  Schiller. 


THE   TEMPTATION  87 

but  for  the  strengthening  of  the  character,  an  active 
co-operation  in  the  battle  of  Life  is  required.' 

Jehoshua  had  attained  a  high  degree  of  that 
interior  power  of  perception  which  enables  man  to 
hear  the  voice  of  divine  Inspiration  speak  within  the 
heart  without  any  danger  of  misunderstanding.  To 
accomplish  this  it  is  necessary  not  merely  to  become 
a  master  over  one's  evil  desires,  but  also  to  keep  the 
disorderly  intellectual  powers  of  the  mind  subject  to 
the  control  of  the  Spirit,  so  that  the  Intellect  may 
become  our  friend  and  servant,  but  cease  to  assume 
the  place  belonging  to  Divine  Wisdom.  The  Intellect 
is  easily  influenced  by  the  desires  of  the  lower  self, 
but  Wisdom  is  above  all  selfish  considerations ;  she 
recognises  no  personal  claims  which  are  not  in  accord- 
ance with  eternal  Truth.  The  Intellect  is  changeable 
and  mortal;  Wisdom  is  eternal,  unchangeable,  and 
immortal.  The  Intellect  can  only  become  immortal 
by  amalgamating  with  Wisdom.  If  the  decisions  of 
Wisdom  and  those  of  the  Intellect  are  in  harmony 
and  identical  with  each  other,  then  the  mortal 
Intellect  rises  up  to  the  state  of  immortal  divine 
Intelligence. 

Jehoshua  returned  to  Palestine.  His  object  was 
to  convince  his  countrymen  that  God  will  only  help 
those  who  help  themselves,  and  that  all  external 
circumstances  are  the  results  of  interior  conditions ; 
that  if  they  desired  to  extricate  themselves  from  their 
deplorable  condition,  they  would  have  to  call  to  their 
aid  the  divine  power  existing  within  themselves, 
instead  of  remaining  indolent  and  expecting  external 


88  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

help  from  a  God  such  as  they  had  created  within 
their  own  imagination. 

There  were  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing 
a  number  of  people  in  Galilee  of  more  advanced 
thought  than  the  rest.  They  were  known  as  the 
Nazarenes ;  the  majority  of  them  were  living  on  the 
east  side  of  the  river  Jordan  and  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  lake  Tiberias,  and  John  the  Baptist  was  their 
prophet.  This  man,  originally  of  the  priestly  caste 
of  the  Levites,  was  looked  upon  by  the  Pharisees  as 
being  a  renegade  to  their  order,  because  his  doctrines 
did  not  conform  to  their  orthodox  views.  He  had  re- 
signed his  sacerdotal  office  at  the  temple,  with  all 
its  emoluments,  and  chosen  a  hfe  of  poverty.  Clad 
in  rough  skins,  his  noble  face  almost  hidden  by  his 
shaggy  hair  and  flowing  beard,  his  appearance  was 
awe-inspiring,  and  his  voice  was  strong,  re-echoing  in 
the  hearts  of  men  like  the  sound  of  thunder  that 
reverberates  through  the  mountains, 

'  Repent ! '  he  cried ;  '  the  day  of  judgment  is 
near.  Listen  no  longer  to  the  seductions  of  sensual 
life,  but  seek  the  divine  life  within  you.  I  do  not 
ask  you  to  give  up  the  pleasures  of  life  for  the  pur- 
pose of  becoming  misanthropes,  but  to  realise  that 
there  is  something  far  higher  than  merely  animal 
pleasures  or  erroneous  speculations;  and  if  you  rise 
up  to  the  higher  regions  of  thought  and  learn  to  know 
your  own  higher  nature,  sensual  things  will  lose  their 
attraction  for  you,  and  you  will  renounce  them  as 
worthless  objects  in  the  same  sense  as  a  grown-up 
man  renounces  the  toys  with  which  he  used  to  play 


THE   TEMPTATION  89 

when  a  child,  and  for  which  he  has  no  further  use. 
I  baptise  you  with  the  water  of  truth  by  directing 
your  thoughts  to  that  which  is  eternal ;  but  the 
understanding  I  cannot  give,  for  that  must  come 
from  Wisdom,  which  is  greater  than  Reason.  First 
comes  thought,  and  afterwards  comes  that  interior 
Illumination  by  which  men  are  baptised  with  Fire 
from  the  Holy  Spirit  of  Truth,  that  descends  upon 
those  who  are  pure  in  heart,  like  a  white  dove 
descending  from  heaven.  Man  may  be  led  up  to 
the  truth  by  argumentation,  but  he  can  only  be 
saved  by  knowledge.  Reason  is  the  prophet,  but 
Wisdom  is  the  Redeemer.  Thought  must  precede 
knowledge ;  but  without  the  light  of  Divine  Wisdom 
thought  is  like  a  voice  in  the  wilderness,  calling  for 
help ;  an  intellect  without  Love  becomes  easily  lost  in 
the  mazes  of  speculations  and  misleading  opinions. 
Therefore  you,  who  desire  to  be  saved,  repent  of 
your  errors;  give  up  your  selfishness,  that  causes 
you  to  seek  for  knowledge  merely  on  account  of  the 
benefits  you  hope  to  derive  therefrom  ;  open  your 
eyes  to  see  the  true  saviour,  the  light  of  Wisdom, 
which  you  may  find  below  the  dark  clouds  of 
ignorance  by  which  your  heart  is  surrounded.' 

The  fame  of  John  the  Baptist  had  spread  all  over 
the  country ;  even  the  embodiment  of  selfishness,  the 
great  king  Herodes,  had  heard  his  voice  that  sounded 
like  the  roar  of  a  lion.  This  man,  being  a  great 
profligate  and  entirely  attracted  by  sensual  pleasures, 
would  not  listen  to  the  warning  voice  of  Reason,  but 
at  the  same  time  he  was  a  great  coward.     He  was 


90  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

afraid  that  what  John  the  Baptist  said  might  be  true, 
after  all.  He  did  what  the  majority  of  men  do  at 
this  day  when  their  reason  comes  in  conflict  with  their 
desires.  He  refused  to  listen  to  John  the  Baptist ;  he 
had  him  arrested  and  put  into  a  prison,  so  that  he 
might  not  be  disturbed  by  his  voice,  and  be  left  in 
the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  beautiful  Herodias. 

For  some  time  Jehoshua  remained  with  this 
prophet  of  the  desert  and  his  disciples.  He  taught 
them  some  of  the  truths  he  had  learned  in  Egypt 
from  the  books  of  Herines  Trismegistus,  called  in 
Egypt  Meti,'^  and  his  companions  wrote  down  some 
of  the  fragments  he  taught,  and  these  fragments  were 
afterwards  transmitted  to  their  successors. 

After  the  imprisonment  of  John  the  Baptist, 
Jehoshua  retired  for  a  while  into  the  wilderness,  to 
devote  himself  to  meditation  and  self-examination. 
There  are  moments  in  the  life  of  every  man  when  he 
feels  the  necessity  to  retire  within  himself  and  to  look 
into  his  own  interior  soul.  If  he  succeeds  in  locking 
the  door  of  the  chamber  of  his  mind  against  all 
sensual  thoughts  that  may  arise  from  external  in- 
fluences, to  keep  the  wandering  thoughts  steady,  '  as 
a  lamp  sheltered  from  the  wind  does  not  flicker,'  to 
plunge  down  into  the  mysterious  depths  of  his  own 
innermost  being,  then  may  he  find  the  Divinity 
within  his  own  soul. 

Let  not  this  be  called  a  fancy.  Useless  would  it 
be  for  a  man  who  has  not  found  his  own  higher  self, 
to  imagine  that  he  found  it  and  to  believe  himself  to 

^  The  Gospel  according  to  Matthew. 


THE   TEMPTATION  91 

be  a  god.  Such  an  assumption  would  be  sure 
to  bring  on  his  perdition.  If  the  internal  god  reveals 
himself  to  man,  he  does  so  in  a  manner  which  leaves 
no  room  for  doubt;  but  which  must  be  experienced 
before  it  can  be  known,  and  which  can  therefore  not 
be  revealed  to  those  who  refuse  to  receive  him. 

There  are  vast  solitudes  in  Judea,  where  the 
blazing  sun  sends  his  rays  into  the  treeless  desert. 
There  nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  bare  rocks  and  loose 
stones  filling  the  dried-up  beds  of  the  creeks,  wherein 
during  the  rainy  season  water  collects,  but  where 
during  the  rest  of  the  year  no  moisture  is  found.  No 
life  is  there,  except  perhaps  a  snake  gliding  over  the 
sand  and  an  eagle  floating  high  up  in  the  air  watching 
his  prey;  the  heated  air  scorches  the  parched  lips, 
and  all  around  is  desolation  and  death,  while  over- 
head expands  the  sky,  the  emblem  of  Infinity. 

There  are  solitudes  within  the  human  soul,  to 
which  man  may  retire.  There  are  deserts  where 
nothing  is  to  be  seen  but  a  jumble  of  adopted 
opinions  and  theological  doctrines,  and  where  reason 
looks  in  vain  for  a  drop  of  the  water  of  truth.  Some- 
times lakes  and  rivers  appear  at  a  distance ;  but  as  we 
approach,  that  which  appeared  to  be  true  proves  to  be 
merely  a  mirage,  a  work  of  delusion.  Things  that 
look  in  the  moonlight  of  external  reason  like  precious 
fruits  or  like  jewels  and  pearls  are  often  found  upon 
examination  in  the  sunlight  of  Wisdom  to  be  nothing 
but  worthless  rubbish.  Over  our  head  shines  the  sun 
of  Truth  in  the  infinite  realm,  while  in  the  dark 
caverns  of  the  soul  lurk  the  snakes  of  evil  desires. 


92  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

To  some  such  desert  Jehoshua  retired,  and  there 
he  fought  once  more  the  great  battle  with  his  own 
self.  He  looked  within  his  soul  and  he  found  therein 
reflected  the  condition  of  mankind;  for  man  is  an 
integral  part  of  Humanity,  and  in  proportion  as  we 
learn  to  know  our  own  soul  we  lose  all  sense  of 
separateness  and  realise  that  we  are  one  with  all 
mankind ;  we  are  in  humanity,  and  humanity  is 
within  ourselves.  As  he  looked  in  that  magic 
mirror, — the  Soul, — he  saw  therein  reflected  the 
images  of  all  the  miseries  produced  by  ignorance, 
and  the  ardent  desire  arose  in  his  heart  to  save 
mankind  from  error ;  to  kill  the  monster  of  darkness, 
to  destroy  once  again  the  golden  calf  of  self- 
adulation,  and  to  restore  the  worship  of  the  Spirit  of 
Wisdom,  whose  temple  is  in  the  soul.  While  he 
thought  of  becoming  a  saviour  to  mankind,  the  sense 
of  the  '  / '  arose  in  his  consciousness,  and  the 
tempter  approached  him  in  the  shape  of  Ambition, 
the  king  of  all  the  powers  of  evil. 

*  Powerful  one,'  whispered  the  tempter,  '  if  thou 
wilt  save  mankind,  cause  these  stones  to  become  bread, 
enable  men  to  employ  Intelligence  for  base  purposes ; 
for  they  will  care  little  for  spiritual  truths  unless  they 
can  make  them  serve  some  temporal  purpose.  Their 
material  necessities  are  nearer  to  them  than  the 
things  of  whose  existence  they  know  nothing,  or 
whether  they  be  at  all  useful  to  them.  Men  do  not 
care  for  the  truth  ;  they  only  care  for  the  material 
benefits  which  may  result  from  its  knowledge.  Go 
and   improve   the    material    condition   of    mankind. 


THE   TEMPTATION  93 

Teach  them  how  to  make  gold  and  to  gain  easily 
comfort  and  luxury.  Then,  when  their  terrestrial 
wants  are  provided  for,  will  they  find  time  to  attend 
to  their  spiritual  salvation.  Go  and  teach  them  the 
hidden  secrets  of  nature,  so  that  they  may  kill  their 
enemies  and  acquire  riches.  Feed  the  hungry  and 
save  them  the  trouble  of  working,  liberate  those  who 
are  slaves  and  too  indolent  to  help  themselves,  and 
thou  wilt  be  worshipped  by  all.' 

But  Jehoshua,  rising  above  the  plane  of  selfishness, 
repulsed  the  evil  one,  and  said :  '  Material  wealth  and 
comfort  is  not  all  that  mankind  requires;  their 
spiritual  condition  is  of  far  greater  importance  than 
temporal  benefits  given  to  them  without  their  own 
efforts.  The  power  for  good  can  only  grow  by  a 
constant  battle  with  evil.  It  is  well  that  man  should 
learn  all  the  external  conditions  by  which  he  is 
surrounded,  but  every  gratification  of  his  selfish 
desires  only  calls  into  existence  a  legion  of  other 
desires  and  fastens  still  stronger  the  links  by  which  he 
is  chained  to  Matter.  "Evil"  is  as  much  a  necessary 
element  in  the  process  of  evolution  as  "good,"  for  the 
only  way  to  freedom  is  through  suffering;  only  he 
who  has  fought  in  the  battle  can  come  out  victorious.' 

'But,'  answered  the  evil  one,  'how  wilt  thou 
convince  mankind  that  this  terrestrial  world  is  merely 
a  world  of  illusions,  and  that  there  is  a  higher  state  of 
existence  ?  If  thou  couldst  perform  wonders  and 
miracles,  they  would  perhaps  be  willing  to  believe. 
Cast  thyself  down  from  the  pinnacle  of  Jerusalem, 
degrade  thyself  by  descending  to  the  plane  of  the 


94  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

intellectual  understanding,  and  men  will  believe  in 
thee.  Men  do  not  love  the  divine  truth,  because  they 
do  not  know  it ;  and  before  they  will  seek  to  know  it, 
they  must  be  made  to  believe  that  it  exists.  If  thou 
canst  make  its  existence  plausible  by  performing 
some  wonderful  feats,  then  will  they  be  willing  to 
make  a  bargain  and  to  exchange  terrestrial  baubles 
for  celestial  treasures.  Does  not  the  light  eternally 
shine  into  darkness,  and  does  the  darkness  believe 
that  it  exists  ?  ' 

To  this  the  Higher  Self  of  Jehoshua  replied : 
*  Divine  Wisdom  belongs  to  the  realm  of  Light,  and 
cannot  descend  to  the  intellectual  comprehension  of 
mortals;  those  who  seek  for  the  truth  must  themselves 
rise  up  to  its  understanding.^  Men  must  come  up  to 
divine  wisdom ;  it  cannot  descend  to  their  level. 
Moreover,  it  is  not  a  mere  belief  in  the  truth,  which 
will  save  mankind;  they  should  have  their  own 
knowledge.  Those  who  cannot  have  faith  without 
external  evidence,  are  not  in  the  possession  of 
knowledge.  Let  them  open  their  eyes  for  the 
perception  of  spiritual  things  and  cease  to  cling  to 
adopted  beliefs.  Let  them  seek  for  the  truth  within 
themselves,  and  not  within  the  opinions  of  another.' 

'Wilt  thou,  then,'  said  the  Demon  of  Self,  'take 
away  the  crutches  with  which  poor  Humanity  hobbles 
along  ?  Wilt  thou  destroy  her  toys  and  awaken  her 
from  the  peaceful  slumber  in  which  she  finds  repose? 

^  When  the  truth  was  brought  before  the  judgment  seat  of  the 
intellect,  and  requested  to  prove  intellectually  his  claims,  '  he  never 
answered  him  a  word ;  inasmuch  that  the  governor  (of  the  mind) 
marvelled  greatly.' — Matthew  xxvii.  12. 


THE   TEMPTATION  95 

Dost  thou  know  what  will  be  the  consequences  of 
such  a  rash  act  ?  Men  do  not  wish  to  be  free  from 
creeds  and  opinions,  for  they  possess  no  knowledge. 
They  hate  freedom,  and  prefer  to  cling  to  the  slavery 
of  their  creeds.  They  do  not  want  to  be  their  own 
masters,  but  they  must  have  some  one  to  obey.  If 
thou  destroyest  their  favourite  creed  to-day,  they  will 
have  another  one  to-morrow.  What  should  they  do 
without  a  creed  ?  They  are  afraid  to  think  for  them- 
selves ;  they  must  have  some  man  to  think  for  them. 
Thou  wilt  make  them  free,  but  thou  shalt  not 
succeed.  Fasten  their  chains,  and  they  will  be  happy. 
Give  them  a  herdsman  to  follow,  and  they  will  be 
contented.  Give  them  somebody  to  obey.  Give 
them  by  all  means  an  Authority  in  which  they  may 
believe.  Behold,  I  am  the  Devil  of  Self ;  my  king- 
dom extends  all  over  the  world.  Fall  down  and 
sacrifice  thy  dignity  to  me,  enter  my  being,  appeal 
to  men's  love  of  self,  and  you  will  be  the  ruler  of  the 
world.' 

As  he  spoke  these  words,  the  demon  expanded  in 
size,  and  his  body,  like  an  immense  cloud  of  darkness, 
seemed  to  extend  all  over  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  Jehoshua  saw  that  the  thoughts  and  actions  of 
the  vast  majority  of  men  and  women  upon  this  globe 
were  all  ruled  by  selfishness.  There  were  almost 
none  to  be  found  who  loved  Divine  Wisdom  for  her 
own  sake,  while  all  the  rest  merely  pretended  to  love 
her,  because  they  expected  favours  from  her.  They 
loved  the  Truth  merely  on  account  of  the  benefits 
that  might  be  derived  from  its  knowledge  here  or  in 


96  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

the  hereafter,  and  thus  they  did  not  love  Divine 
Wisdom,  but  merely  her  gifts.  Not  being  able  to 
know  the  Truth,  because  they  were  not  attracted  to  it 
by  an  unselfish  love  for  Divine  Wisdom,  they  were 
satisfied  with  anything,  however  false,  which  was 
represented  to  them  as  being  the  truth,  and  thus  they 
worshipped  their  own  idols.  But  there  were  a  few 
who  actually  loved  the  truth  for  its  own  sake,  and 
they  appeared  like  luminous  stars  within  that  dark 
mass  of  ignorance. 

But  as  Jehoshua  looked  still  deeper  into  the  hearts 
of  men,  he  found  that  this  love  of  self  was  merely  a 
property  of  the  surface  of  the  shell  of  which  men  are 
composed,  and  that  there  was,  after  all,  a  germ  of 
genuine  love  of  the  truth  contained  within  the  depths 
of  every  human  heart.  If  this  germ  could  be 
developed  and  brought  to  the  surface,  and  the  love  of 
self  be  made  to  occupy  a  hack-seat,  then  would  the 
love  for  absolute  Good  come  to  the  front,  and  men 
would  learn  to  know  the  Truth.  The  love  of  self  is 
inherent  in  human  nature,  and  it  cannot  be  entirely 
suppressed  as  long  as  men  live  in  corporeal  forms  ; 
but  it  can  be  made  to  appear  as  a  matter  of  secondary 
consideration,  while  an  unselfish  attendance  to  duty 
should  be  a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  to  all. 

Therefore  the  Divinity  of  Jehoshua  arose  to  the 
surface,  and  said  to  the  Demon  of  Self :  '  Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan ! '  and  as  he  spoke  these  words, 
the  demon  shrank  into  minute  proportions  and  dis- 
appeared from  sight,  and  a  flood  of  light  entered  the 
soul  of  Jehoshua.     He  now  became  fully  conscious 


THE   TEMPTATION  97 

that  he  had  entered  a  new  state  of  existence ;  an 
interior  Illumination  took  place,  and  he  saw  that  his 
personaHty  was  not  his  real  self,  but  merely  an  in- 
strument which  he  had  created  for  the  purpose  of 
fulfilling  a  mission  upon  this  Earth.  He  had  now 
gained  a  great  victory  over  his  own  illusive  self  and 
entered  into  the  sanctuary  of  the  Temple  of  Truth. 


THE  SERMON  UPON  THE  MOUNT 

The  Truth  teaches  nothing  else  but  its  own  existence  ;  it  is  for  Man 
to  rise  up  to  that  height  where  he  may  arrive  at  its  understanding. 

Jehoshua  had  now  become  strong ;  he  had  become  a 
prophet  and  Adept.  Before  his  interior  Illumination 
took  place,  he  had  not  known  that  firm  conviction 
which  he  possessed  now.  He  had  perceived  the  power 
of  the  spirit  like  a  blind  man,  who  feels  the  heat  of 
the  sunshine  without  being  able  to  see  the  light ;  but 
now  he  had  gained  true  knowledge,  he  had  become 
acquainted  with  his  Bride,  Divine  Wisdom;  and 
when  during  his  sermons,  being  carried  away  by  his 
aspirations  for  Truth,  he  rose  into  the  regions  of 
divine  thought  to  embrace  her,  his  human  nature  was 
lost  to  all  consciousness  of  personal  limited  existence; 
his  Bride  took  form  in  him,  and  it  was  no  more  the 
man  Jehoshua  who  spoke  divinely  inspired  words; 
but  it  was  Divine  Wisdom  herself  that  spoke 
through  his  lips.  His  whole  being  appeared  on  such 
occasions  to  be  permeated  by  the  Light  of  the  Logos ; 
yea,  for  all  we  know,  it  may  have  been  the  Logos 
itself  manifesting  through  him. 

This  may  explain  why,  like  the  Avatars  of  old,  he 
spoke  of  himself  as  being  The  Christ,  The  Truth, 
and  The  Son  of  God.     This  Spirit  of  Wisdom,  that 


THE   SERMON    UPON   THE   MOUNT      99 

in  ancient  times  had  spoken  through  the  mouth  of 
Krishna,  saying :  '  I  am  the  way,  the  support,  lord, 
witness,  abode,  and  friend  ;  '  ^  '  I  am  the  beginning, 
the  middle,  and  the  end  of  all  existing  things,'  ^  re- 
peated these  words  through  the  lips  of  Jehoshua, 
saying:  *I  am  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the  hfe.^  .  .  . 
I  am  the  Alpha  and  Omega ;  the  beginning  and  the 
end '  ;*  and  this  divine  spirit  still  continues  to  speak 
in  the  same  manner  in  the  heart  of  every  one  who  is 
able  to  rise  above  the  Sphere  of  Self  and  to  become 
for  the  time  being  one  with  his  God. 

He  taught  in  many  of  the  towns  and  villages  of 
Galilee,  and  gained  the  hearts  of  the  people  by  his 
great  beauty  and  eloquence  and  by  that  power  which 
always  inspires  those  who  are  firmly  convinced  that 
they  are  teaching  the  truth.  From  village  to  village 
he  went,  preaching  anew  the  old  gospel  of  fraternal 
love ;  and  many  times  when  the  doors  of  the  syna- 
gogues were  closed  against  him,  he  may  have  been 
seen,  standing  upon  a  hill,  surrounded  by  the  listening 
crowd,  while  the  evening  breeze  played  with  his  long 
flowing  locks,  and  above  him  on  the  distant  sky  shone 
that  bright  constellation  of  stars  called  the  Southern 
Cross,  as  if  it  were  to  reveal  the  future  that  was 
waiting  for  him — a  cross  upon  this  Earth  and  eternal 
glory  in  Heaven. 

Those  few  and  rare  persons,  the  regenerated  ones 
in  the  spirit,  in  whom  the  Word  has  become  alive, 
and  through  whom  Divine  Wisdom   manifests  itself, 

'  Bhagavad  Gita,  ix.  13.  ^  John  xiv.  6, 

*  Ihid.  X.  20.  "  Revelation  i.  8. 

h2 


100  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

require  no  preparation  for  their  speeches,  nor  any 
elaborate  arrangement  for  their  ideas ;  because  it  is 
not  their  own  systems  and  opinions  which  they  present 
to  their  audiences ;  but  it  is  the  Truth  itself,  express- 
ing itself  through  them.  We  are  not  now  referring 
to  those  who  speak  in  a  trance,  or  as  if  controlled  by 
a  superior  spirit,  nor  to  those  who  talk  of  whatever 
enters  their  brain  ;  but  to  those  who  travel  the  road 
to  Adeptship,  who  are  able  to  hear  the  eternal  Word 
in  their  hearts,  speaking  to  them  with  no  uncertain 
sound,  and  who  give  it  external  expression.  Thus  the 
bird  requires  no  instructor  to  know  what  melody  to 
sing,  and  in  moments  of  joy  or  grief,  when  Nature 
pours  forth  her  own  sentiments,  without  hypocrisy  and 
without  restraint,  thoughts  rise  from  the  heart  to  the 
lips  and  become  words,  as  the  waters  of  a  well  rise  to 
the  surface  without  preparation  and  without  artifice — 
being  doubly  powerful  from  being  produced  by  Nature. 

His  words  coming  as  they  did, — not  from  the 
brain,  but  from  the  heart, — went  to  the  hearts  of  the 
hearers ;  being  in  possession  of  the  truth,  '  he  taught 
as  one  having  authority,  and  not  as  the  scribes,'  ^ 
who  repeat  what  they  have  learned  in  books,  without 
being  themselves  convinced  of  the  truth  of  their 
doctrines,  nor  inclined  to  follow  the  rules  which  they 
prescribe  for  others. 

Thus  we  find  him  one  evening  upon  the  Motmt,  in 

the  midst  of  his  followers,  teaching  them  ancient  truths 

in  beautiful  allegorical  forms,  which  were  understood 

by  his  hearers,  because  the  truth  was  with   them ; 

1  Matthew  vii.  29. 


THE   SERMON    UPON   THE   MOUNT     101 

but  which  are  not  understood  by  our  theologians, 
because  the  truth  is  not  with  them.  Having  departed 
from  our  modern  civilisation,  having  been  driven  away 
by  clericalism,  priestcraft,  and  external  reasoning, 
crucified  and  killed  by  our  modern  *  Pharisees  and 
scribes,'  the  truth  has  departed  from  our  religious 
systems,  and  the  allegories  of  the  Bible  are  not  under- 
stood, but  accepted  merely  in  their  external  literal 
meaning,  thus  degrading  Divine  Wisdom  into  mere 
rubbish.  Let  us  invoke  the  spirit  of  Common  Sense 
to  enlighten  our  mind  and  to  explain  to  us  to  a  certain 
extent  the  esoteric  meaning  of  a  few  of  the  doctrines 
taught  by  Jehoshua  upon  the  Mount.  We  well  know 
that  many  words  will  be  required  to  bring  within  the 
grasp  of  the  intellect  truths  which  can  be  imparted  by 
a  few  allegories  to  the  wise,  and  we  also  know  that 
the  explanations  given  below  do  not  exclude  other 
explanations  equally  true. 

Matthew,  Chapter  V 

1.  And  seeing  the  multitude,  he  went  up  into  a 
mountain,  and  when  he  was  set,  his  disciples  came 
unto  him. 

Di\dne  Wisdom  being  aware  of  a  great  multitude  of  intel- 
lectual powers  in  the  mind,  desiring  knowledge,  went  with 
them  into  the  mountain  of  Faith,  and  when  tranquillity  of  the 
mind  was  established,  the  organs  for  intuition  became  opened. 

2.  And  he  opened  his  mouth  and  taught  them, 
saying : — 

Then  the  Spirit  of  Divine  Wisdom  came  to  the  consciousness 
of  the  mind,  and  said  : — 


102  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

3.  *  Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit,  for  theirs  is  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.' 

Happy  are  those,  whose  heads  are  not  full  of  idle  specula- 
tions, opinions,  and  theories,  but  who  are  able  to  receive  the 
truth  in  its  purity,  as  it  comes  from  the  source  of  all  wisdom, 
being  reflected  in  their  minds,  like  the  image  of  a  ship  sailing 
upon  a  tranquil  lake  is  mirrored  in  the  water.  Happy  are 
those  who  listen  to  the  voice  of  their  conscience  and  see  by 
the  light  of  their  intuition  without  attempting  to  pervert  by 
the  sophistry  of  their  external  reasoning  the  truths  which  they 
intuitionally  perceive, 

4. '  Blessed  are  they  that  mourn,  for  they  shall  be 
comforted.' 

Blessed  are  those  who  do  not  seek  for  happiness  in  terres- 
trial illusions,  but  recognise  the  reality  of  the  ideal  world. 
Their  mortal  forms  may  suffer,  but  by  rising  mentally  to  a 
higher  state  of  consciousness  above  personality  and  limitation, 
they  will  be  comforted. 

5. '  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit  the 
Earth.' 

Happy  are  those  who  have  no  personal  desires,  for  they  are 
already  in  possession  of  all  things.  What  could  be  offered  to 
increase  the  happiness  of  one  who  is  already  perfectly  happy 
and  who  has  no  ambition  to  gratify  ? 

6.  *  Blessed  are  they  which  do  hunger   and   thirst 
after  righteousness,  for  they  shall  be  filled.' 

Blessed  are  they  who  love  the  truth  for  its  own  sake,  for 
by  their  aspirations  they  will  rise  up  to  its  understanding. 

7.  '  Blessed  are  the  merciful,  for  they  shall  obtain 
mercy.' 

Those  whose  hearts  are  full  of  love  and  benevolence  for 
all,  will  attract  the  love  of  all  others. 


THE   SERMON   UPON   THE   MOUNT     103 

8.  '  Blessed  are  the  pure  in  heart,  for  they  shall  see 
God.' 

Only  in  a  pure  and  tranquil  soul  can  the  image  of  Divine 
Wisdom  be  reflected  and  be  recognised  by  the  mind  without 
any  distortions. 

9.  *  Blessed  are  the  peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be 
called  the  children  of  God.' 

The  peacemakers  in  the  mind  of  man  are  those  spiritual 
elements  which  raise  him  above  the  sphere  of  limitation  and 
personality  and  attract  him  to  the  Eternal.  Being  of  a 
divine  nature,  they  are  properly  called  the  children  of  God. 

10.  '  Blessed  are  they  which  are  persecuted  for  right- 
eousness' sake,  for  theirs  is  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.' 

Power  grows  by  resistance.  Those  who  overcome  tempta- 
tions and  remain  true  to  their  spiritual  faith,  even  if  they  suffer 
for  it,  will  become  stronger  in  knowledge  and  in  the  happiness 
resulting  therefrom. 

11  and  12.  '  Blessed  are  ye,  when  men  shall  revile  you, 
and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all  manner  of 
evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice 
and  be  exceeding  glad,  for  great  is  your  reward  in 
heaven  :  for  so  persecuted  they  the  prophets  which 
were  before  you.' 

Such  an  appeal  to  the  vanity,  selfishness,  and  ambition  of 
men  and  to  their  hope  for  reward,  asking  them  to  rejoice 
over  lies  and  over  the  ignorance  of  others,  cannot  be  anything 
else  but  a  pious  interpolation,  unless  it  refers  to  a  certain 
occult  process,  during  which  the  lower  elemental  powers  in  man 
become  rebellious,  when  they  feel  the  approach  of  the  truth, 
and  they  then  begin  to  revile  him. 


104  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

13.  'Ye  are  the  Salt  of  the  earth,  but  if  the  Salt  have 
lost  its  savour,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted  ?  It 
is  thence  good  for  nothing,  but  to  be  cast  out 
and  trodden  under  foot  of  man.' 

The  Will  is  the  life  of  the  soul ;  but  if  the  Will  becomes 
evil  and  loses  its  sanctity,  the  whole  constitution  of  man  will 
become  evil  and  useless  for  good.  Evil  desires  will  arise 
which  must  be  '  trodden  under  foot '  and  overcome  by  virtue. 

14.  'Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  A  city  that  is  set 
on  the  hill  cannot  be  hid. ' 

The  intelligent  powers  of  men  who  have  acquired  wisdom, 
illumine  the  mind.  Wisdom  is  self-evident  to  those  who  are 
wise,  and  even  the  inferior  powers  will  recognise  its  beauty. 

15.  '  Neither  do  men  light  a  candle  and  put  it  under  a 
bushel,  but  on  a  candle-stick,  and  it  giveth  light 
to  all  that  are  in  the  house.' 

The  Wisdom  should  not  be  overshadowed  by  selfish  desires. 
When  the  mind  rises  up  to  the  sphere  of  wisdom,  all  its 
powers  will  become  illumined  by  it. 

16.  'Let  your  light  so  shine  before  men,  that  they 
may  see  your  good  works  and  glorify  your  Father 
which  is  in  heaven.' 

Do  not  merely  talk,  but  act  according  to  wisdom,  and  all 
the  intelligent  powers  within  and  without  you  will  then  recog- 
nise the  wisdom  from  which  your  actions  arise,  and  rejoice 
over  it. 

17.  '  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  destroy  the  Law  or 
the  prophets.  I  am  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to 
fulfil.' 

A  knowledge  of  the  truth  cannot  cause  men  to  act  against 
divine  law,  but  it  will  enable  them  to  obey   it.     It  is   the 


THE   SERMON    UPON   THE   MOUNT     105 

misunderstanding  and  ignoring  of  the  truth  and  the  mis- 
interpretation of  the  letter  of  the  law,  that  causes  men  to 
disobey  the  law. 

18.  *  For  verily  I  say  unto  you  :  Till  heaven  and  earth 
pass,  one  jot  or  one  tittle  shall  in  no  wise  pass  from 
the  law,  till  all  be  fulfilled.' 

The  divine  law  of  Karma  will  exist  as  long  as  the  world 
exists.  It  is  unchangeable.  Prayers  without  acts  avail 
nothing,  for  no  favours  are  granted.  The  true  way  to  pray 
is  to  rise  up  to  a  higher  condition  and  to  become  ennobled  in 
character  by  acting  according  to  the  unwritten  law.  Miracles 
are  impossibilities.  If  even  the  least  deviation  of  the  Law 
of  Evolution  from  its  course  were  to  occur,  its  eternal  and 
unchangeable  character  would  be  for  ever  destroyed. 

19.  *  Whosoever,  therefore,  shall  break  one  of  these 
least  commandments,  and  shall  teach  men  so,  he 
shall  be  called  the  least  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ; 
but  whoever  shall  do  and  teach  them,  the  same 
shall  be  called  great  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.' 

He  who  acts  according  to  his  own  will  and  against  the 
universal  Will  of  God,  loses  the  consciousness  of  his  divine 
state,  and  Hves  in  that  of  his  narrow  self ;  but  he  who  acts 
according  to  the  universal  Law  rises  to  its  level,  and  his  con- 
sciousness expands  beyond  the  limits  of  personality,  partaking 
of  the  nature  of  the  divine  mind. 

20.  '  For  I  say  unto  you  :  That  except  your  righteous- 
ness shall  exceed  the  righteousness  of  the  scribes 
and  Pharisees,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven.' 

If  you  act  merely  according  to  the  dictates  of  your  external 
reasoning,  and  not  from  a  direct  spiritual  perception  of  the 
truth,  you  are  then  not  in  that  state  of  spiritual  consciousness 


106  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

which  constitutes  the  divine  state  of  man.     No  one  will  enter 
heaven  by  argumentation. 

21.  'Ye  have  heard  it  was  said  by  them  of  olden  time  : 
Thou  shalt  not  kill,  and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall 
be  in  danger  of  judgment.' 

As  long  as  men  are  not  capable  of  rising  up  to  a  perception 
of  the  truth,  they  may  desist  from  evil  deeds  merely  on  account 
of  the  evil  consequences  that  are  beheved  to  follow. 

22.  *  But  I  say  unto  you :  That  whosoever  is  angry 
with  his  brother,  shall  be  in  danger  of  judgment.' 

But  when  you  attain  spiritual  knowledge,  you  will  know 
that  it  is  your  own  state  of  mind  and  your  thoughts,  on  which 
your  future  happiness  depends ;  for  the  inner  life  of  man  is 
his  real  life  ;  his  external  acts  are  merely  the  shadows  of  his 
thoughts.  External  acts  produce  effects  upon  the  external 
plane ;  but  man's  thoughts  and  his  will  determine  the 
condition  of  his  inner  life,  and  produce  lasting  effects  upon 
that  plane  where  he  will  exist  when  he  re-enters  the  subjective 
state. 

The  above  examples  may  be  sufficient  to  show 
that  the  allegories  of  the  Bible  may  be  explained  in  a 
manner  very  different  from  that  given  by  those  who 
imagine  that  they  are  the  Salt  of  the  Earth  and  the 
Light  of  the  World. 

The  inherent  power  of  the  truths  which  Jehoshua 
taught,  his  noble  appearance,  natural  dignity,  and 
kindness  of  manner  gained  for  him  the  hearts  of  the 
people.  On  account  of  the  mixed  population  of 
Gahlee,  bigotry  and  orthodoxy  were  less  prevalent 
there  than  in  Judea.  There  were  many  '  heathen  ' 
who  had  no  reHgious  prejudices,  and  even  among  the 


THE   SERMON    UPON   THE   MOUNT     107 

Jews  there  were  not  a  few  who  had  honest  doubts  in 
regard  to  the  orthodox  creed.  The  coming  of  the 
Redeemer  who  was  to  be  their  king  and  to  drive  the 
foreigners  out  of  the  country  had  been  often  heralded, 
and  as  often  were  they  disappointed  in  their  ex- 
pectations. Jehoshua  made  no  such  claims.  He 
wanted  to  improve  the  spiritual  condition  of  the 
people ;  an  improvement  of  their  external  condition 
would  then  be  the  natural  consequence.  Many 
recognised  in  him  a  man  of  advanced  ideas,  and  he 
gained  many  followers  among  the  inhabitants  of  that 
country. 

There  was,  moreover,  another  circumstance  which 
served  to  increase  his  popularity.  It  is  well  known 
to  every  Occultist  that  a  certain  degree  of  spiritual 
development  is  always  accompanied  by  the  develop- 
ment of  certain  occult  powers,  especially  the  power  to 
heal  diseases  by  the  touch  or  by  a  mere  exercise  of 
the  will,  and  also  the  power  of  reading  intuitively  the 
thoughts  of  others.  Such  things  are  not  due  to  the 
action  of  any  unnatural  or  supernatural  cause ;  for  the 
power  of  the  Will  and  the  principle  of  Life  are  said 
to  be  fundamentally  identical,  and  he  who  can  control 
his  own  Will  becomes  thereby  able  to  direct  the 
currents  of  Life  within  his  own  organism,  and  to 
transfer  them  upon  others  for  the  purpose  of  giving 
health  and  strength  to  them.  It  is  likewise  believed 
that  those  who  have  obtained  the  power  to  control 
their  own  thoughts  and  to  steady  their  minds,  may 
thereby  become  able  to  read  the  thoughts  of  others, 
because   the    mental    images   created    by    the    latter 


108  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

become  reflected  and  mirrored  in  the  minds  of  those 
whose  souls  are  tranquil,  and  such  images  may  enter 
their  consciousness. 

Such  powers  Jehoshua  possessed ;  he  read  the 
thoughts  of  the  people,  and  knew  their  condition ;  and 
many  a  case  of  illness  that  was  considered  incurable 
by  ordinary  means  of  treatment  was  cured  by  the 
power  of  his  virtue.  As  his  fame  spread,  many  sick 
persons  were  brought  to  him ;  he  became  a  healer  of 
the  body  as  well  as  of  the  mind ;  he  infused  life  in 
the  bodies  of  his  followers,  and,  dispelling  the  clouds 
of  ignorance,  he  caused  them  to  open  their  hearts  to 
the  influence  of  the  divine  light  of  the  Truth.  Thus 
he  travelled  through  Galilee  and  Judea,  and  blessings 
followed  in  his  path. 


THE    DOCTRINES    OF    THE 
CHRIST    SPIRIT 

There  is  only  one  absolute  Truth.      Being   universal,  it  is   seen 
alike  by  all  who  are  able  to  perceive  it. 

Ever  since  the  most  ancient  times  Divine  Wisdom 
has  taught  the  same  doctrines  through  the  mouths 
of  the  wise.  Hermes  Trismegistus,  Confucius  and 
Zoroaster,  Buddha  and  Jehoshua,  Plato  and  Socrates, 
Saint  Martin  and  Jacob  Boehme,  Theophrastus 
Paracelsus  and  Cornelius  Agrippa,  Shakespeare  and 
Schopenhauer,  and  innumerable  others  have  taught 
the  same  truths  more  or  less  complete,  and  each  of 
these  teachers  clothed  them  in  a  form  most  suitable 
to  his  own  understanding  or  adapted  to  the  compre- 
hension of  his  disciples. 

For  the  sake  of  illustration,  we  will  take  a  few 
examples  from  ancient  books  that  existed  before 
the  Christian  era;  namely,  the  Bhagavad  Gita,  the 
books  of  Hermes  Trismegistus,  the  Dhammapada  of 
the  Buddhists,  and  add  corresponding  verses  of  the 
Christian  Bible,  to  show  the  similarity  of  these 
doctrines. 

I.  1.  'The  wise  man,  ever  devout,  who  worships  the  One,  is 
the  most  excellent;  for  I  am  dear  above  all  things  to  the 
wise  man,  and  he  is  dear  to  me.' — Bhagavad Gita,Yll.  17. 
109 


110  THE   LIFE  OF  JEHOSHUA 

2.  '  Embrace  me  with  thy  whole  heart  and  mind,  and  what- 
soever thou  wouldst  learn,  I  will  teach  thee.' — Hermes 
Trismegisius,  II.  3. 

3.  '  He  who  reflects  and  meditates  receives  ample  joy.' — 
Dhammapada. 

4.  '  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart, 
with  aU  thy  mind,  and  with  all  thy  soul.' — Matthew, 
XXII.  37. 

II.  1.  '  I  (Brahm)  was  never  non-existent,  nor  thou,  nor  those 
rulers  of  men,  nor  shall  any  of  us  hereafter  cease  to 
he:—Bh.  Gita,  II.  12. 

2.  '  I  am  that  Light,  the  Mind,  thy  God,  who  am  before  the 
moist  nature  that  appeared  out  of  darkness,  and  that 
bright  lightful  Word  is  the  Son  of  God.' — Hermes,  II.  8. 

3.  '  He  who  has  traversed  this  hazy  and  imperious  world 
and  its  vanity,  who  is  through  and  has  reached  the  other 
shore,  is  thoughtful,  guileless,  free  from  doubts,  free 
from  attachment,  and  content, — him  I  call  indeed  a 
Brahmana.' — Dhamm. 

4.  'Before  Abraham  was,  I  am.' — John,  VIII.  58. 

III.  L  '  He  that  spread  out  this  All  can  never  perish.     No  one 

is  able  to  cause  the  destruction  of  the  Eternal.' — Bh. 
Gita,  II.  17. 

2.  '  What  is  God  ?  Immutable  and  unalterable  Good.' — 
Hermes,  I.  22.  '  God  and  the  Father  is  Light  and  Life 
of  which  Man  is  made.  If,  therefore,  thou  learn  and 
know  thyself  to  be  of  the  Life  and  Light,  thou  shalt 
again  pass  into  the  Life.' — Hermes,  II.  50. 

3.  'He  who  takes  refuge  with  the  (eternal)  Law  is  delivered 
from  all  pain.' — Dhamm. 

4.  '  Heaven  and  earth  shall  pass  away,  but  my  Word 
(power)  shall  not  pass  away.' — Luke,  XXI.  33. 

IV.  1.  '  As  a  man,  having  cast  off  his  old  garments,  takes  others 

that  are  new,  so  the  embodied  soul,  having  cast  off  the  old 
bodies,  enters  into  others  that  are  new.' — Bh.  Gita,  II.  22. 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  CHRIST  SPIRIT    111 

2.  'That  which  is  unchangeable  is  eternal,  that  which  is 
always  made  is  always  corrupted.' — Hermes,  II.  22,  23. 

3.  '  He  who  knoweth  that  this  body  is  hke  froth  and  has 
learned  that  it  is  as  unsubstantial  as  a  mirage,  will  break 
the  flower-pointed  arrow  of  Mara  and  never  see  the  king 
of  death.' — Dhamm. 

4.  '  That  which  is  bom  of  the  flesh  is  flesh,  and  that  which 
is  born  of  the  Spirit  is  Spirit.' — John,  III.  6. 

V.  1.  'This  embodied  (soul)  in  the  body  of  every  one,  oh  son 

of  Bharata!  is  ever  indestructible,  wherefore  thou  oughtest 
not  to  mourn  for  any  living  thing.' — Bh.  Gita,  II.  30. 

2.  '  Of  the  soul  that  part  which  is  sensible  is  mortal,  but 
that  part  which  is  governed  by  reason  is  immortal.' — 
Hermes,  I.  37.  'Man  is  mortal  because  of  his  body, 
and  immortal  because  of  the  substantial  Man.' — Hermes, 
II.  26. 

3.  '  Happy  is  the  arising  of  the  Awakened.  Even  the  gods 
envy  those  who  are  awakened.'— D/z^mm. 

4.  '  I  live,  but  not  I,  but  Christ  Hved  in  me.' — Gal.  II.  20. 

'  He  that  hath  the  Christ  (in  him)  hath  life,  and  he  that 
hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  no  life.'— 1  John,  V.  22. 

VI.  1.  'A  flowery  kind  of  language  is  spoken  by  the  unwise, 

who  pride  themselves  in  Veda  words  (in  false  reasoning 
and  superficial  logic),  whose  souls  are  full  of  lust,  who 
regard  (a  sensual)  heaven  as  the  highest  good.  .  .  . 
The  doctrines  of  these  men,  whose  minds  are  carried 
away  by  mere  words,  are  not  formed  for  meditation.' — 
Bh.  Gita,  II.  42. 

2.  '  Terrestrial  things  do  profit  nothing  the  things  of  heaven  ; 
but  celestial  things  profit  all  things  upon  the  earth.' — 
Hermes,  I.  72.  'To  the  foolish  and  evil,  wicked  and 
vicious,  covetous,  murderous,  and  profane,  I  am  far  off, 
giving  place  to  the  avenging  demons.' — Hermes,  II.  56. 

3.  '  Men  driven  by  fear  go  to  many  a  refuge,  to  mountains 
and  forests,  to  groves  and  sacred  trees,  but  that  is  not  a 


112  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

safe  refuge.  .  .  .  The  thoughtless  man,  even  if  he  can 
recite  a  long  portion  of  the  law  (prayer),  but  is  not  a  doer 
of  it,  has  no  part  in  the  priesthood,  but  is  Hke  a  cowherd, 
counting  the  cows  of  others.' — Dhamm. 
4.  '  Not  every  one  that  saith,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my 
Father  which  is  in  heaven.' — Matt.  VII.  2L  'This 
people  honoureth  me  with  their  lips,  but  their  heart  is  far 
from  me.' — Mark,  VII.  6. 

VII.  L  'Neither  intelligence  nor  self-possession  belongs  to  the 
undevout  man.  There  is  no  peace  for  him  who  is  not 
self-possessed,  and  without  peace  how  can  there  be 
happiness  ? ' — Bh.  Gita,  II.  66. 

2.  '  He  that  through  error  of  Love  loveth  the  body,  abideth 
wandering  in  darkness,  sensible,  suffering  the  things  of 
death.' — Hermes,  II.  40. 

3.  *  Fools  of  little  understanding  have  themselves  for  their 
greatest  enemies,  for  they  do  deeds  which  must  bear 
bitter  fruits.' — Dhamm. 

4.  *  Except  a  man  be  born  again,  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom 
of  God.'— John,  III.  13. 

VIII.  1.  '  Brahma  is  the  oblation,  Brahma  is  the  sacrificial  butter, 
Brahma  is  the  fire,  the  burnt  offering  is  by  Brahma. 
Into  Brahma  will  he  enter  who  meditates  on  Brahma  in 
his  work.' — Bh.  Gita,  IV.  62. 

2.  '  The  like  always  takes  to  itself  that  which  is  like ;  but 
the  unlike  never  agrees  with  the  unlike.' — Hermes,  I.  84. 
'  That  which  in  thee  seeth  and  heareth,  the  Word  of  the 
Lord  and  the  Mind,  the  Father  God,  differ  not  from  one 
another,  and  the  union  of  these  is  life.' — Hermes,  II.  19. 

3.  '  Without  (spiritual)  knowledge  there  is  no  meditation ; 
without  meditation  there  is  no  knowledge.  He  who 
has  meditation  and  knowledge  is  near  to  Nirvana.' — 
Dhamm. 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  CHRIST  SPIRIT    113 

4.  *  He  that  abideth  in  me  and  I  in  him,  the  same  bringeth 
forth  much  fruit,  for  without  me  ye  can  do  nothing.' — 
John,  XV.  5.  'Whoso  eateth  (aspires)  my  (spiritual) 
flesh  (substance)  and  drinketh  (absorbeth)  my  blood  (my 
power)  dwelleth  in  me  and  I  in  him.' — John,  VI.  56. 

IX.  1.  'Let  the  Yogin  constantly  practise  devotion,  fixed  in  a 

secluded  spot  alone,  having  thought  and  self  subdued  .  .  . 
thinking  on  Me,  intent  on  Me.' — Bh.  Gita,  VI.  10. 

2.  '  Depart  from  that  dark  light,  be  partakers  of  immortality, 
and  leave  or  forsake  corruption.' — Hermes,  II.  78.  '  Why 
have  you  delivered  yourselves  over  unto  death,  having 
power  to  partake  of  immortality  ? '  '  O  ye  people,  men 
bom  and  made  of  the  earth,  which  have  given  yourselves 
up  to  drunkenness  and  sleep  and  to  the  ignorance  of 
Good,  be  sober  and  cease  your  surfeit,  whereunto  you 
are  allured  and  visited  by  brutish  and  unreasonable 
sleep.' — Hermes,  II.  75. 

3.  '  The  disciples  of  Gautama  are  always  well  awake,  and 
their  thoughts  day  and  night  are  always  set  on  Buddha. 
Like  a  well-guarded  fortress  with  defences  within  and 
without,  so  let  a  man  guard  himself.  Not  a  moment 
should  escape,  for  they  who  allow  the  right  moment  to 
pass  suffer  pain.' — Dhamm. 

4.  '  When  thou  prayest  (meditatest),  enter  into  thy  closet 
(thy  soul),  and  when  thou  hast  shut  the  door  (of  the 
external  senses),  pray  to  the  Father,  which  is  in  secret.' 
— Matt.  VI.  6.  '  Watch  and  pray,  that  you  may  not 
enter  into  temptation,' — Matt.  XXVI.  41. 

X.  1.     He  who  sees  Me  everywhere  and  everything  in  Me,  him 

I  forsake  not,  and  he  forsakes  not  Me.' — Bh.  Gita,  VI.  30. 
2.  Shining  steadfastly  upon  and  around  the  whole  mind,  it 
enlightened  all  the  soul,  and  loosing  it  from  the  bodily 
senses  and  motions,  it  draweth  it  from  the  body  and 
changed  it  wholly  into  the  essence  of  God.  For  it  is 
possible,  O  Son,  to  be  deified  while  yet  it  lodgeth  in  the 


114  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

body  of  man,  if  it  contemplate  the  beauty  of  Good.' — 
Hermes,  IV.  18. 

3.  '  Self  is  the  lord  of  self ;  who  else  could  be  the  Lord  ? 
With  (the  lower)  self  well  subdued,  a  man  finds  a  lord 
such  as  few  can  find.' — Dhamm. 

4.  *  That  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father,  art  in  me, 
and  I  in  thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us.' — John, 
XVII.  21. 

XI.  1.  'I  am  the  source  of  all  things;  the  whole  (universe) 
proceed  from  Me.  Thinking  thus,  the  wise,  who  share 
my  nature,  worship  Me.' — Bh.  Gita,  X.  8. 

2.  '  The  glory  of  all  things,  God,  and  that  which  is  divine, 
and  the  divine  Nature,  the  beginning  of  things  that  are.' 
— Hermes,  III.  1. 

3.  *  All  that  we  are  is  the  result  of  what  we  have  thought ; 
it  is  made  up  of  our  thoughts.' — Dhamm. 

4.  '  All  things  were  made  by  Him,  and  without  Him  was 
not  anything  made.  In  Him  was  {is)  the  Hfe,  and  the 
life  was  {is)  the  light  of  men.' — John,  I.  3. 

XII.  1.  '  He  who  is  the  same  to  friend  or  foe  ...  to  whom  pain 
and  blame  are  equal ;  who  is  silent,  content  with  every 
fortune,  steadfast  in  mind,  and  worships  Me,  that  man 
is  dear  to  me.' — Bh.  Gita. 

2.  *  The  strife  of  piety  is  to  know  God  and  to  injure  no 
Man,  and  in  this  way  it  becomes  Mind.  Such  a  soul, 
being  pious  and  religious,  is  angelic  and  divine.  After 
it  is  departed  from  the  body,  having  striven  for  piety, 
it  becomes  the  Mind  or  God.' — Hermes,  IV.  64. 

3.  '  Let  us  Hve  happily,  not  hating  those  who  hate  us ;  let 
us  dwell  free  from  hatred  among  men  who  hate  us.  Let 
a  man  overcome  anger  by  love,  evil  by  good,  the  greedy 
by  liberality,  the  liar  by  truth.' — Dhamm. 

4.  '  Love  your  enemies  ;  bless  them  that  curse  you,  do  good 
to  them  that  hate  you,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute 
you:— Matt.  V.  40. 


DOCTRINES  OF  THE  CHRIST  SPIRIT    115 

The  above  examples,  if  their  esoteric  meaning  is 
compared,  will  be  sufficient  to  show  the  great  resem- 
blance between  the  doctrines  of  the  *  New  Testament  * 
and  those  of  the  Eastern  sages.  But  the  circum- 
stance that  they  refer  to  the  same  fundamental  truths 
is  by  no  means  an  indication  that  the  writers  have 
plagiarised  each  other. 

The  truth  exists ;  it  is  as  free  as  the  air  to  all  who 
are  able  to  grasp  it ;  it  can  neither  be  invented  nor 
monopolised  by  man.  Men  may  grasp  and  remodel 
ideas,  and  express  them  in  new  forms ;  but  the  truth 
is  one  and  universal ;  it  may  be  seen  and  described  in 
one  part  of  this  globe  as  well  as  in  another;  it  is 
eternal  and  does  not  change ;  and  the  doctrines  it 
teaches  through  the  mouths  of  those  whose  minds  are 
illumined  by  wisdom,  a  million  of  years  hence,  will  be 
the  same  which  it  taught  a  million  of  years  ago. 
These  doctrines  The  Spirit  of  Christ  still  teaches  to 
those  who  will  listen  to  him ;  for  he  is  not  dead,  but 
lives  as  an  immortal  power  whose  name  is  Divine 
Wisdom,  '  The  Word: 


iz 


HERODIAS 

That  which  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the  history  of  the  Jews 
is  taking  place  to-day.  Continually  does  Desire,  to  which  Man  is 
wedded,  seek  to  alienate  him  from  Reason,  and  by  appealing  to 
Passion  she  often  succeeds  in  his  destruction. 

Gay  was  the  throng  which  crowded  the  halls  at  the 
fortress  of  Makur,  where  the  birthday  of  Herodes  the 
Great  was  to  be  celebrated.  Stately  soldiers  with  glit- 
tering armours  and  helmets,  beautiful  ladies  clad  in 
rich  garments  and  adorned  with  their  most  precious 
jewels,  filled  the  rooms;  Nubian  and  Arabian  ser- 
vants were  seen  hastening  through  the  corridors ;  the 
walls  were  adorned  with  costly  hangings  and  with  an 
abundance  of  garlands  and  flowers,  to  prepare  for  the 
banquet,  for  a  great  orgy  was  to  take  place  in  that 
castle,  to  please  the  great  king;  while  in  its  sub- 
terranean dungeons  languished  the  prophet  John  the 
Baptist.  Let  us  throw  a  glance  at  the  supposed 
history  of  those  times. 

Herodes  Antipas,  the  king  of  Judea,  was  an  object 
of  hate  and  fear  to  the  Jews,  who,  in  their  turn,  were 
to  him  an  object  of  ridicule  and  contempt.  Trusting 
in  the  power  of  the  Roman  army,  by  which  he  was 
supported,  and  in  the  favour  of  the  Emperor,  he 
laughed  at  the  mutterings  of  the  discontented  people, 
as  long  as  they  did  not  disturb  his  comfort.    Only  when 

116 


HERODIAS  117 

one  or  the  other  of  those  rebellious  spirits,  more  daring 
or  more  ambitious  than  the  rest,  became  too  obnoxious 
to  him,  he  nodded  his  head,  and  the  noise-maker  paid 
the  penalty  for  his  rashness  by  a  slow  death  of  starva- 
tion upon  a  cross  or  by  the  more  merciful  punishment 
of  execution  by  the  sword. 

He  was  a  great  profligate ;  but  his  profligacy  would 
not  have  been  an  object  of  serious  reprobation  by  the 
Jews,  who  were  themselves  an  indolent  and  profligate 
people,  if  he  had  not  continually  off"ended  their  vanity 
by  treating  them  and  their  religion  with  mockery  and 
disdain ;  but  under  the  existing  circumstances,  his 
licentiousness  formed  one  more  welcome  pretext  for 
the  discontented  people  to  denounce  him  in  private 
and  to  point  at  him  scornfully  and  hatefully  whenever 
it  could  be  done  without  any  risk  to  themselves. 

He  was  married  to  an  Arabian  princess,  the 
daughter  of  a  neighbouring  king.  His  wife  was  a 
beautiful,  modest,  and  unpretending  woman ;  but 
having  become  satiated  with  her  charms,  he  became 
subject  to  an  animal  passion  for  Herodias,  the  daughter 
of  his  half-brother.  This  proud  and  ambitious  woman 
accepted  his  proposals,  and  to  remove  the  most  im- 
portant impediment  in  the  way  for  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  incestuous  design,  the  king  made  up  his 
mind  to  murder  his  wife.  The  plan  failed,  because 
the  queen,  having  discovered  the  plot  through  the 
information  received  by  a  faithful  servant,  fled  with  a 
few  trustworthy  friends  across  the  frontier  to  Arabia, 
to  seek  refuge  in  the  house  of  her  parents.  This 
incident   and    the   circumstances   connected   with    it 


118  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

created  a  great  scandal  all  over  the  country ;  but 
H  erodes,  infuriated  at  thus  having  the  mask  torn 
from  his  face,  considered  any  further  attempt  at 
secrecy  unnecessary,  and  resolved  to  defy  public 
opinion.  He  therefore  took  Herodias  to  his  court,  and 
lived  with  her  in  open  disregard  of  all  decency  and 
propriety. 

Thus  we  often  see  that  the  great  king  of  selfishness 
in  Man  is  more  enamoured  of  some  Vice  generated  by 
the  reasoning  intellect,  the  half-brother  of  Wisdom, 
than  of  his  legitimate  wife.  Knowledge,  the  daughter 
of  Intuition ;  and  when  the  latter  sends  her  faithful 
servant,  whose  name  is  Conscience,  to  him,  to  re- 
proach him  for  his  infidelity,  he  attempts  to  kill  her 
and  drive  her  away  from  his  heart.  But  when  Con- 
science has  once  departed.  Vice  begins  to  show  herself 
openly  in  defiance  of  all  restraint. 

Among  those  who  most  denounced  his  immorality 
was  John  the  Baptist.  Fearless  and  uncompromising, 
his  voice  thundered  like  the  roar  of  a  lion  through 
the  desert,  and  its  echo  was  heard  at  the  palace  of  the 
Tetrarch.  Death  and  destruction  and  a  day  of  judg- 
ment were  foretold  by  the  prophet,  and  repentance 
enjoined.  Tyranny,  vanity,  and  cowardice  always  go 
hand  in  hand ;  and  for  a  while  Herodes  became 
seriously  frightened.  Thinking  that  at  all  events  it 
might  be  well  to  make  an  attempt  to  escape  the 
penalty  due  for  his  sins,  he  sent  for  John  to  inquire  by 
what  means  the  angry  God  could  be  pacified.  John, 
however,  was  inexorable.  He  replied  that  divine 
justice  could  not  be  bribed  or  bargained  with.     No 


HERODIAS  119 

prayer,  no  sacrifice,  no  ceremony,  he  said,  would  avail. 
He  demanded  cessation  of  the  incestuous  intercourse, 
a  return  to  Knowledge,  and  a  separation  from  the 
ambitious  woman. 

Reproaches  and  accusations  always  smart  when 
they  are  based  upon  truth.  Such  language  Herodes 
was  not  accustomed  to  hear,  nor  would  he  submit  to 
be  made  to  appear  to  himself  a  villain.  Still  more 
angry  was  the  beautiful  Herodias,  because  she  saw 
her  plans  for  the  future  and  her  position  threatened 
by  the  fanatical  reformer.  It  required  but  little  per- 
suasion on  her  part  to  induce  her  lover  to  give  the 
order  for  the  arrest  of  John  the  Baptist,  and  to 
imprison  him  in  the  fortress  of  Makur. 

More  than  this  Herodes  was  not  willing  to  do. 
He  did  not  want  to  kill  Reason,  but  he  wanted  to 
silence  its  voice  whenever  it  was  unwelcome  to  him. 
In  vain  Herodias  wept  and  represented  to  him  that 
John  deserved  to  be  punished  by  death,  and  that  she 
could  not  be  contented  as  long  as  the  prophet  was 
permitted  to  live,  because  his  very  presence  was  a 
reproach  to  her.  Herodes  knew  that  John,  who  was  of 
a  noble  family,  had  many  influential  friends,  and  that 
to  kill  him  would  court  an  open  rebellion ;  but  there 
was  still  another  cause  which  prevented  him  from 
consenting  to  the  request  of  Herodias  and  to  murder 
the  prophet ;  for  he  suspected  that  perhaps,  after  all, 
the  prophecies  foretold  by  John  might  come  true ;  and 
if  so,  what  better  means  of  protection  against  the  ills 
that  were  to  come,  could  he  find  than  the  prophet 
himself,  who  might  act  as  his  counsellor. 


120  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Moreover,  John,  imprisoned  in  the  subterranean 
dungeons  below  the  castle  of  Makur,  was  there  as 
little  capable  of  annoying  the  king,  as  if  he  had  been 
already  dead.  There  he  might  preach  and  denounce 
as  much  as  he  pleased ;  there  was  no  one  to  listen  to 
him.  He  therefore  treated  the  requests  of  Herodias 
for  the  death-punishment  of  John  the  Baptist,  as  the 
results  of  a  womanish  whim,  and  he  at  last  forbade 
her  to  mention  this  subject  again. 

But  who  can  baffle  the  designs  of  a  woman  whose 
vanity  has  been  offended  ?  Who  can  silence  the 
voice  of  vice,  if  reason  is  not  permitted  to  speak  ? 
Herodias  knew  the  weak  points  in  the  character  of 
Herodes, — his  sensuality  and  love  of  pleasure,  his 
lewdness  and  pride, — and  she  resolved  to  have  recourse 
to  a  trick,  to  extort  from  him  that  which  she  no 
longer  dared  to  ask. 

Herodias,  as  may  well  be  imagined,  was  a  beauti- 
ful woman.  Stately  was  her  form,  and  faultless  her 
features.  From  her  large  dark  eyes,  overshadowed 
by  long,  drooping  lashes,  seemed  to  flash  a  super- 
natural fire,  which  made  men  her  slaves,  while  a 
bewitching  smile  played  around  her  lips,  as  if  she 
were  rejoicing  over  the  victories  she  so  easily  gained 
over  the  senses  of  men.  Her  bearing  was  full  of 
haughtiness  and  pride  :  thus  must  Judith  have  looked 
as  she  entered  the  tent  of  Holofernes  to  cut  off  the 
head  of  the  king ;  thus  may  have  looked  Messalina 
when  she  feasted  upon  Roman  patrician  blood.  But 
while  she  might  have  been  regarded  as  an  incarnation 
of  pride,  and  a  personification  of  lust,  she  appeared 


HERODIAS  121 

nevertheless  very  modest.  These  hps  which  seemed 
to  scorn  the  world,  could  flatter  and  plead,  this 
graceful  form  could  bow  down  at  the  approach  of  the 
royal  voluptuary,  and  submit  to  the  embraces  of  one 
whom  she  despised  at  heart. 

What  did  she  care  for  Herodes  ?  His  person  was 
nothing  to  her  but  an  instrument  by  which  she  hoped 
to  obtain  that  which  she  desired, — the  crown.  If  he 
had  not  been  a  king,  she  would  have  spurned  him  and 
detested  his  touch  ;  but  she  well  knew  that  the  surest 
way  for  a  woman  to  render  a  man  her  slave,  is  to 
appear  to  be  submissive  to  him,  and  to  obey  his  wishes 
even  before  they  are  uttered.  Thus  she  ruled  over 
Herodes,  while  Herodes  dreamed  of  ruling  over  her. 

She  had  committed  a  mistake  by  asking  of  him 
the  life  of  John  the  Baptist ;  she  ought  to  have  been 
more  careful,  and  induced  Herodes  to  offer  that  life 
to  her  spontaneously,  and  apparently  without  her 
request.  This  mistake  had  to  be  remedied ;  for  the 
head  of  John  the  Baptist  had  to  fall,  if  she  did  not 
want  to  live  in  constant  dread  of  his  influence.  '  Who 
is  this  John,'  she  said  to  herself,  *  that  we  should 
hesitate  to  put  him  to  death  ?  A  beggar,  like  so 
many  others  that  we  have  silenced  when  they  became 
too  noisy,  and  no  one  dared  to  reproach  us  for  it. 
He,  a  worm,  has  dared  to  crawl  into  my  path,  and  to 
oppose  my  will.  I  will  not  recede ;  I  will  crush  him 
under  my  foot  and  go  on :  let  his  blood  come  upon 
himself.' 

She  had  asked  for  a  clandestine  interview  with 
Kaiphas,  the  high-priest  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem, 


122  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

and  one  night  he  came  to  her  in  disguise.  She  asked 
him  for  his  aid  to  annihilate  John  the  Baptist,  or  to 
find  a  pretext  to  have  the  prophet  accused  and 
condemned  by  law  as  a  heretic  and  infidel ;  but  while 
Kaiphas  offered  no  serious  objection  to  the  imprison- 
ment of  the  prophet,  whose  violent  speeches  were 
liable  to  produce  a  schism  in  the  church  and  to  lessen 
the  authority  of  the  clergy,  he  would  not  listen  to  any 
proposals  in  regard  to  his  murder;  for  John  was  of 
his  caste, — even  if  he  was  a  renegade, — and  he 
harboured  a  certain  amount  of  admiration  for  him. 

Thus  the  beautiful  Herodias  was  left  to  her  own 
resources.  She  once  attempted  to  have  recourse  to 
some  practices  of  sorcery,  in  which  she  had  received 
instruction  from  an  Egyptian  woman  ;  but  her  cere- 
monies were  of  little  avail,  because  the  powers  of  evil 
which  she  invoked  could  not  affect  the  pure  soul  of 
John  the  Baptist :  they  reverted  to  her  own  bosom 
and  filled  her  heart  with  despair. 

But  if  the  powers  of  darkness  were  not  able  to  do 
her  bidding,  there  was  a  being,  ever  ready  to  comply 
with  her  wishes,  namely,  her  own  daughter  Salome, 
the  fruit  of  a  former  marriage  of  Herodias  ;  a  charm- 
ing girl  of  about  fifteen  years,  who  was  universally 
acknowledged  to  be  the  most  beautiful  young  lady  at 
the  court  of  Herodes,  and  a  most  graceful  dancer  ;  and 
it  had  not  escaped  the  attention  of  Herodias,  that  the 
eyes  of  the  lascivious  king  often  rested  with  a  passion- 
ate glare  upon  the  unripe  charms  of  her  daughter. 

One  day  Salome  had  found  her  mother  in  tears, 
and  after  begging  her  to  confess  the  cause  of  her 


HERODIAS  123 

sorrow,  Herodias  took  her  daughter  into  her  confidence 
and  confided  her  secret  to  her.  Then  the  two  women 
concocted  a  plan  which  was  to  cost  John  the  Baptist 
his  hfe.  Salome  was  not  a  malicious  girl ;  but  she 
was  exceedingly  frivolous,  inconsiderate,  and  vain,  and 
flattered  herself  she  was  able  to  accomplish  a  thing  in 
which  even  her  mother  had  failed  to  succeed,  and  to 
outwit  the  king.  As  to  John  the  Baptist,  she  cared 
no  more  for  him  than  if  he  had  been  a  slave. 

In  pursuance  of  the  plot  into  which  they  had 
entered,  Herodias  made  arrangements  for  a  great 
festival  to  be  held  at  Makur,  to  celebrate  the  birthday 
of  the  king.  To  that  place  the  court  resorted  with  a 
gathering  of  selected  guests.  Herodes  was  to  be 
surprised  by  the  magnificence  of  the  feast. 

The  banquet  was  opened  in  a  large  hall  of  the 
castle.  On  three  sides  of  the  room  tables  and  couches 
were  arranged  in  horse-shoe  form,  opening  towards 
the  entrance,  which  was  hung  with  heavy  curtains. 
In  the  midst  of  the  half-circle  upon  a  somewhat 
elevated  platform  there  was  a  throne  for  the  king  and 
Herodias,  while  at  both  sides  the  courtiers  and  the 
ladies  were  seated.  Costly  wines  and  rich  viands  were 
served,  music  and  songs  and  various  plays  increased 
the  hilarity  of  those  present,  but  the  best  of  all  the 
performances  was  to  come  off  at  midnight. 

At  that  time  a  number  of  selected  beauties  of 
Jerusalem,  expert  dancers,  entered.  They  were 
dressed  and  ornamented  in  a  manner  calculated 
rather  to  expose  their  charms  than  to  hide  them. 
They  performed  an  Arabian  dance,  that  excited  the 


124  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

senses  of  the  half-drunken  king  to  the  utmost  degree. 
But  now  in  the  midst  of  it  the  dancers  made  room, 
the  heavy  curtain  opened,  and  Salome  the  beautiful 
whirled  into  the  room,  nude,  excepting  a  transparent 
film-like  texture,  thin  as  a  spider's  web,  serving  as  an 
ornament  during  her  dance.  As  the  beauty  of  the 
moon,  the  queen  of  the  night,  surpasses  the  stars, 
so  the  beauty  of  Salome  outshone  the  rest  of  the 
dancers,  as  she  went  through  the  most  graceful 
gyrations.  Her  magnetic  gaze  was  directed  upon 
the  king,  as  if  he  were  the  sole  object  of  her 
desires  and  the  rest  of  the  assembly  did  not  exist 
for  her;  and  when  the  dance  ended  and  a  storm  of 
applause  filled  the  room,  she  stood  before  the  king, 
looking  imploringly  at  him,  her  hands  folded  over 
her  palpitating  bosom.  She  was  the  personification 
of  vanity  and  desire. 

'  A  kingly  entertainment,  indeed ! '  stuttered  the 
intoxicated  Tetrarch,  who  had  not  recovered  from  his 
surprise. 

'And  worthy  of  a  kingly  reward!'  said  Herodias, 
in  a  loud  voice,  so  that  all  present  could  hear  it. 

This  remark  excited  the  pride  of  Herodes.  'Yes!' 
he  said;  'ask  whatever  thou  desirest,  and  thou  shalt 
receive  it  from  me.' 

'  Then  give  me  at  once  the  head  of  John  the 
Baptist,  laid  upon  a  golden  plate,'  answered  Salome. 

For  a  moment  the  king  stared  at  her  in  terror  and 
in  surprise.  He  saw  that  he  had  been  outwitted; 
but  he  was  too  proud  to  retract  his  promise,  and, 
as  if  ashamed  of  his  hesitation,  he  answered  with  a 


HERODIAS  125 

forced    laugh   and   sent   one   of    the   most    stalwart 
servants  immediately  to  execute  the  command. 

The  above  is  an  account  of  events  supposed  by 
many  to  have  taken  place  in  Palestine  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Christian  era,  although  there  is  no 
historical  evidence  for  it;  but  what  every  one  may 
know  by  his  own  self-examination  is,  that  in  the 
kingdom  of  the  soul  of  semi-animal  man  selfishness 
is  the  king,  represented  as  Herodes ;  and  the  voice  of 
reason,  represented  as  John  the  Baptist,  cries  like  a 
voice  in  the  wilderness.  In  many  cases  man  does 
not  wish  to  listen  to  that  voice,  nor  does  he  wish 
to  destroy  it,  unless,  reduced  by  Passion,  the  daughter 
of  Desire,  he  complies  with  her  request,  destroys  his 
own  reason,  and  thereby  himself. 


JERUSALEM 

The  Truth  is  self-existent  and  independent  of  the  opinions  of 
men.  It  has  not  a  stone  upon  which  to  rest  its  head,  nor  does  it 
require  any  logical  argument  to  support  it.  It  is  known  to  all  who 
are  willing  to  receive  it  when  it  enters  their  heart. 

A  CRY  of  indignation  arose  all  over  Judea  when  the 
foul  murder  of  John  the  Baptist  became  known.  The 
rich  and  the  poor  alike  denounced,  in  unmeasured 
terms,  that  act  of  tyranny  and  cowardice.  It  seemed 
as  if  this  had  been  the  straw  that  broke  the  long- 
enduring  camel's  back,  and  in  many  parts  of  the 
country  an  open  rebellion  was  threatened ;  for  John 
was  not  merely  a  general  favourite  with  the  people  and 
the  accepted  prophet  of  the  Nazarenes ;  he  was  also 
of  the  Levitic  caste,  whose  members  were  considered 
sacred.  Now  was  the  time  for  the  long-expected 
Saviour  to  come.  If  he  had  appeared  at  that  time 
and  proved  his  authority  by  a  few  miracles,  he  would 
have  had  no  end  of  admirers ;  but  the  redeemer  did 
not  come. 

The  Romans,  full  of  security  in  their  superior 
strength,  remained  quiet  and  looked  upon  the  existing 
confusion  as  disinterested  spectators.  They  knew 
that  there  was  no  hero  among  the  Jews  who  could 
act  as  a  leader,  and  the  few  persons  who  were 
inclined   to   act   as  such,  counteracted  each  other's 

126 


JERUSALEM  127 

efforts  by  their  own  petty  envies  and  jealousies.  The 
Jews  claimed  that  something  must  be  done,  but  there 
was  no  one  to  do  it ;  they  all  w^aited  for  Jehovah 
to  perform  some  miracle,  but  the  miracle  was  not 
performed;  nor  would  an  open  rebellion  without  a 
great  and  heroic  leader  have  been  successful,  for  the 
Romans  were  well  prepared  for  such  an  event ;  and 
although  they  seemed  to  be  inactive,  they  silently 
took  measures  to  suppress  an  insurrection.  They 
acted  wisely  in  not  irritating  the  excited  populace, 
for  soon  the  sensation  caused  by  the  murder  ceased 
to  be  a  novelty;  bread-and-butter  affairs  became 
again  more  important  in  their  eyes  than  politics,  and 
even  the  noisiest  braggarts  who  had  fought  great 
battles  with  their  tongues,  quieted  down. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  excitement  Jehoshua  was 
travelHng  in  Judea;  but  when  he  heard  of  the 
murder  of  John  the  Baptist,  he  returned  to  his 
friends,  the  Nazarenes,  to  consult  with  them  what 
measures  were  to  be  taken.  He  well  knew  that  while 
the  passions  were  raging,  it  would  be  useless  for  him 
to  preach  the  gospel  of  wisdom  to  a  people  whose 
reason  was  dead,  and  any  attempt  on  his  part  to 
occupy  the  position  of  a  leader  would  have  im- 
mediately caused  him  to  be  suspected  of  being 
a  political  agitator.  To  occupy  such  a  position  was 
not  his  desire.  It  was  not  his  intention  to  interfere 
with  the  poHtical  institutions  of  the  country ;  but  to 
raise  humanity  up  to  a  higher  region  of  thought, 
to  bring  them  nearer  to  a  realisation  of  the  nature 
of  true  manhood,  and  to  elevate  their  character  and 


128  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

their  sense  of  morality,  upon  which  a  change  for  the 
better  in  their  external  condition  would  follow  as  a 
natural  consequence. 

All  external  conditions  are  the  outcome  of  internal 
conditions.  This  is  as  true  in  regard  to  a  people  as  it 
is  true  in  regard  to  a  man,  a  society,  an  animal,  a 
plant,  or  a  rock.  We  cannot  change  the  nature  of  a 
tree  by  trimming  its  branches ;  we  cannot  change  the 
character  of  an  animal  by  depriving  it  of  its  limbs ; 
we  cannot  change  the  character  and  the  natural 
conditions  of  a  people  by  forcing  upon  it  conditions 
which  are  unnatural,  because  they  are  not  the  out- 
come of  interior  growth.  The  law  of  Karma  is  an 
universal  law  which  acts  within  communities,  yea, 
even  within  solar  systems,  as  it  acts  in  regard  to 
individuals.  A  vice  forcibly  repressed,  unless  dis- 
placed by  a  virtue,  will  accumulate  strength  until  the 
pent-up  force  is  followed  by  an  explosion.  Man  is 
whatever  he  makes  himself  by  his  thoughts.  A  people 
on  the  whole  may  be  looked  upon  as  a  compound 
individual,  made  up  of  a  great  many  personalities, 
and  yet  being  one  entity  to  which  the  same  law 
applies.  A  vicious  man  would  drop  back  into  vice 
to-morrow,  if  his  sins  were  forgiven  to-day ;  a  people 
that  cannot  bear  freedom  would  soon  return  to 
slavery,  even  if  they  were  liberated  by  some  miracle- 
worker. 

Individuals,  as  well  as  communities,  grow  spiritually 
in  proportion  as  they  rise  up  to  a  higher  ideal.  If 
their  ideal  is  lowered,  they  sink  ;  if  it  becomes  exalted, 
they   will    be    elevated   accordingly;    slavery   is  an 


JERUSALEM  129 

unnatural  condition  for  men,  but  a  natural  condition 
for  slaves  ;  freedom  is  only  made  for  the  free.  What 
will  merely  external  reforms  amount  to,  as  long  as  the 
heart  is  not  reformed  ?  Does  a  villain  become  less  of 
a  villain  if  we  dress  him  in  beautiful  garments? 
What  will  it  serve  to  cut  the  branches  of  evil  as  long 
as  the  roots  and  the  trunk  remain  ?  Heroes  are  the 
product  of  the  growth  of  ideas.  Reformers  come 
when  the  time  for  reform  is  ripe ;  if  they  appear  and 
bloom  prematurely,  they  will  produce  no  fruits. 
Luther  and  Napoleon  were  the  products  of  their 
times;  they  did  not  create  reforms  before  the 
necessity  for  reform  had  created  them  ;  the  characters 
that  appear  upon  the  stage  of  life  are  the  products 
of  previously  existing  ideas ;  external  life  is  merely  a 
shadow-picture,  representing  upon  the  wall  of  matter 
the  picture  contained  within  the  magic  lantern  of  the 
mind.  Ideas  are  everything;  personalities,  if  com- 
pared with  ideas,  are  nothing.  Persons  are  only 
useful  if  they  are  instruments  for  the  execution  of 
ideas ;  a  person  who  is  not  a  vehicle  for  an  idea  is 
merely  a  corpse. 

Long-continued  and  abject  fear  of  Jehovah  had 
made  the  Jews  a  nation  of  cowards.  They  had  no 
power  to  help  themselves,  because  they  excluded  the 
saving  grace  of  God  from  their  hearts.  They  needed 
an  external  saviour,  an  outward  redeemer,  one  that 
would  come  riding  upon  the  clouds,  presenting  cre- 
dentials to  secure  an  undisputed  belief  in  his  authority 
to  save ;  a  god,  invested  with  thunder  and  lightning 
to   destroy   their   oppressors.     They   were   a   people 


130  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

amongst  whom  individual  selfishness  had  become  so 
concentrated,  that  no  true  patriotism  was  to  be  found. 
There  was  at  that  time  no  Marcus  Curtius  among 
them,  willing  to  sacrifice  his  personal  self  for  the 
benefit  of  his  country ;  those  who  were  called  patriots, 
were  inspired  by  the  love  of  self  and  of  vanity ;  they 
expected  to  receive  some  reward  from  almighty 
Jehovah. 

The  more  their  self-confidence  failed,  the  louder 
became  their  appeals  to  the  god  which  they  had 
created  in  their  imagination.  The  odour  arising 
from  burning  bodies  of  animals  went  uninterruptedly 
up  to  the  clouds,  to  tickle  the  nostrils  of  the  sleepy 
deity,  to  wake  him  up  and  induce  him  to  fulfil  his 
promises  and  to  send  the  long-expected  redeemer :  but 
Jehovah  would  not  awaken. 

Such  times  were  propitious  to  increase  the  authority 
of  the  priest  and  to  fill  the  money-bags  of  the  church. 
Not  to  allow  any  profit  to  escape  the  clutches  of  the 
church,  the  temples  were  partly  turned  into  stables 
and  bazaars,  where  animals  of  various  kinds,  such  as 
were  used  for  sacrifice,  were  kept  for  sale.  Cattle 
and  sheep,  goats  and  pigeons,  were  waiting  for  the 
priestly  butcher  knife,  to  have  their  throats  cut  after 
a  bargain  was  made.  Helpless  beasts  were  killed  to 
please  the  bloodthirsty  god;  while  those  who  killed 
them  suffered  ferocious  monsters  to  grow  up  within 
their  own  souls. 

Those  who  speculate  upon  human  vanity  and 
greed,  easily  accomplish  their  purpose.  At  those 
times  the  ignorant  believed  that  to  obtain  gifts  from 


JERUSALEM  131 

God,  it  was  necessary  to  make  gifts  to  the  church ; 
then  as  now  those  who  were  able  to  pay  for  expensive 
ceremonies  and  church  service  were  considered  the 
most  pious  and  worthy  to  be  respected.  Well  may 
the  better-informed  Pharisee  then  as  now  have  laughed 
in  his  sleeve  at  the  foolishness  of  the  pilgrim  who 
emptied  his  savings  into  the  treasury  of  the  church,  to 
buy  with  material  wealth  things  which  could  exist 
nowhere  but  in  his  own  imagination ;  but  deception 
was  considered  to  be  unavoidable  and  necessary,  to 
secure  a  firm  footing  for  the  church  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people  and  to  keep  them  in  subjection  to  the  laws 
of  order. 

Clad  in  long-flowing  robes,  upon  which  were  em- 
broidered in  gold,  sentences  from  the  sacred  scrolls, 
the  Pharisees  went  about  public  places,  praying  in 
loud  voices  and  making  a  public  display  of  their  piety. 
No  more  did  God  speak  in  the  hearts  of  men,  for  men 
had  lost  their  power  to  hear ;  but  instead  of  the  voice 
of  God  they  heard  the  voice  of  the  priests,  who  claimed 
to  be  the  keepers  of  the  truth.  They  said  that  their 
words  were  the  words  of  God,  and  to  prove  their 
authority  pointed  to  the  books  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets  and  explained  them  in  a  manner  most  suit- 
able to  the  interests  of  the  church.  But  the  people 
believed  what  they  were  told,  for  their  John  the 
Baptist  was  dead,  having  been  killed  by  their  own 
Herodes,  and  could  not  enhghten  them  in  regard  to 
this  matter. 

Owing  to  the  ignorance  and  selfishness  of  the 
scribes,  external  worship  had  become  entirely  divorced 


132  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

from  the  internal  one,  and  empty  forms  and  cere- 
monies were  considered  of  far  more  importance  than 
knowledge.  Religion  became  a  servant  of  clerical 
interests,  and  matters  of  theology  became  mixed  up 
with  political  affairs. 

All  attempts  to  unite  the  interests  of  church  and 
state  will  always  degrade  religion  and  weaken  the  state 
by  creating  a  rival  power  within  the  latter.  True 
Religion  has  no  other  interest  but  the  ennobling  of 
the  soul ;  she  is  above  all  temporal  and  egoistic  con- 
siderations ;  she  does  nothing  for  the  purpose  of  gaining 
material  wealth  or  to  gratify  personal  ambition  ;  such 
things  are  done  by  the  church  but  not  by  religion.  A 
government  that  needs  the  assistance  of  priestcraft  to 
frighten  the  people  into  submission  is  a  government 
of  slaves,  and  itself  a  slave  to  the  church.  It  is  weak, 
and  becomes  still  weaker  by  dividing  its  power  with 
the  Pharisees.  Religion  ought  never  to  be  used  as  a 
means  to  accomplish  an  unreUgious  purpose;  true 
religion  has  for  its  purpose  the  final  union  of  Man  with 
the  universal  God,  and  rests  upon  a  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  relations  existing  between  God  and  Man  ; 
but  the  foundation  upon  which  priestcraft  rests  is  the 
self-love  of  man  and  his  desire  to  obtain  rewards  which 
he  does  not  deserve.  This  selfishness  is  inherent 
in  the  animal  nature  of  Man ;  it  is  the  rock  upon 
which  sectarianism  rests,  and  it  is  as  everlasting  as 
the  mountains  ;  for  as  long  as  men  exist  in  semi-animal 
forms,  their  higher  aspirations  will  be  mixed  with 
selfish  desires.  As  long  as  they  possess  no  knowledge 
of  self,  they  will  be  helpless  and  ignorant ;  as  long  as 


JERUSALEM  133 

they  cannot  protect  themselves  against  their  own  selves, 
they  will  look  to  the  state  for  the  protection  of  their 
bodies,  and  to  the  church  for  the  salvation  of  their 
souls.  They  may  do  away  with  certain  forms  of 
superstition  and  abolish  some  creed ;  they  may  for  a 
time  imagine  themselves  to  be  free;  but  as  long  as 
they  are  not  free  from  their  own  selfish  desires,  they 
cannot  be  really  free :  for  the  devil  who  keeps  them  in 
chains  is  within  their  own  selves ;  he  goes  with  them 
to  the  church  and  wherever  they  go.  If  they  do  away 
with  one  superstition,  it  will  be  merely  to  replace  it  by 
another ;  if  they  break  the  chains  of  one  master,  they 
will  soon  crave  for  another  to  protect  them  against  their 
own  selves. 

As  long  as  men  are  not  able  to  govern  their  own 
desires,  as  long  as  they  possess  merely  opinions  but 
not  knowledge,  they  cannot  be  free,  and  require  a 
master  to  lead  them  ;  but  they  have  a  right  to  demand 
that  their  master  should  know  more  than  they  know 
themselves,  and  that  he  should  assist  them  in  gaining 
knowledge  and  not  force  them  to  remain  ignorant. 
However  much  it  may  be  in  the  interest  of  mankind 
to  attain  knowledge,  it  is  not  in  the  interests  of  their 
masters  that  they  should  attain  it ;  for  if  men  were  to 
attain  knowledge,  they  would  become  free  and  need 
no  other  master  but  their  own  selves.  Thus  the 
interests  of  priestcraft  are  in  continual  conflict  with 
religion,  and  will  remain  so  until  mankind  comes  a 
step  nearer  to  God  in  spite  of  the  resistance  offered  by 
the  church. 

Woe    to    the    church   that   speculates   upon    the 


134  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

ignorance  of  mankind  ;  it  will  be  a  power  of  evil  and 
perish  in  darkness.  Woe  to  the  state  that  cannot 
stand  without  being  propped  up  by  the  church.  It 
may  find  the  support  pleasant  and  useful,  but  the 
time  may  come  when  the  spirits  that  have  been 
evoked  grow  strong  and  will  not  retire  at  our  bidding, 
and  they  then  become  a  curse  to  the  country  and 
overpower  the  state  that  called  them  to  its  aid. 

At  the  time  of  which  we  are  writing,  the  alliance 
between  the  state  and  the  church  at  Jerusalem  was 
not  very  strong ;  for  the  views  of  the  Romans  in 
regard  to  theology  were  different  from  those  of  the 
Jews.  But  the  Roman  government  recognised  the 
rights  of  the  Sanhedrin  to  have  laws  of  its  own,  and 
it  even  lent  its  aid  to  enforce  these  laws ;  and  thus 
while  the  want  of  energy  among  the  Jews,  originating 
in  their  religious  beliefs,  made  it  easy  for  the  Romans 
to  keep  the  Jews  in  subjection,  the  recognition  of  the 
temporal  authority  of  the  church  created — so  to  say 
— a  Jewish  government  within  the  Roman  government, 
weakening  the  latter  and  producing  conflicts  between 
the  two,  besides  nourishing  a  rebellious  spirit  among 
the  Jews,  which  had  to  be  kept  down  by  the  over- 
whelming power  of  the  Romans. 

Similar  conditions  may  be  found  to  exist  even  at 
this  day  in  that  'Jerusalem'  known  as  the  Mind  of 
Man.  In  a  well-governed  Mind  the  king  of  Reason 
enhghtened  by  Wisdom  ought  to  rule  supreme  ;  but 
if  he  forms  an  alliance  with  Selfishness,  Reason  will 
lose  its  power,  and  a  kingdom  of  Ignorance  will  be 
established  within  the  kingdom  of  Reason.     Then  will 


JERUSALEM  135 

the  edicts  of  the  '  church '  enter  in  conflict  with  the 
laws  given  by  the  legitimate  ruler,  and  Reason  will  be 
lost  unless  Wisdom  comes  to  its  aid. 

Thus  the  processes  that  are  continually  going  on 
within  the  Mind  of  individual  men  resemble  the  pro- 
cesses taking  place  within  the  Mind  of  Humanity ; 
and  as  the  thoughts  of  individual  man  find  outward 
expression  in  his  features  and  in  his  acts,  likewise  the 
thoughts  of  Humanity  find  expression  in  personalities 
and  historical  events  ;  for  the  visible  world  is  nothing 
else  but  a  stage  upon  which  the  inner  life  of  humanity 
is  enacted,  a  place  where  man's  subjective  and  real 
existence  finds  an  external  representation  in  that 
sphere  of  illusions  called  the  physical  world. 


THE    GREAT    RENUNCIATION 

We  can  attain  the  High  only  by  rising  above  that  which  is  low. 
The  life  of  the  God  in  Man  necessitates  the  sacrifice  of  his  attraction 
to  the  animal  elements  existing  in  his  constitution. 

Great  was  the  joy  with  which  the  Nazarenes 
welcomed  him  whom  they  now  recognised  as  their 
Master.  His  mind  had  expanded,  his  spirituaHty  had 
become  strong,  and  his  very  presence  seemed  awe- 
inspiring  and  holy.  There  was  no  wavering  or 
uncertainty  in  his  decisions;  he  had  grown  to  that 
full  stature  in  which  man's  thoughts  become  his 
words,  and  words  become  acts ;  he  had  gained  the 
power  to  control  his  own  mind,  and  in  doing  so  he 
controlled  the  minds  of  others.  His  superiority  was 
so  self-evident,  that  his  former  friends  now  became 
his  disciples,  and  his  followers  looked  upon  him  as  if 
he  were  something  more  than  mortal, — a  god.  Nor 
was  such  a  belief  unjustifiable ;  for  he  had  become  so 
much  united  to  his  own  divine  inner  Self,  that  the 
divinity  of  the  latter  seemed  to  permeate  even  his 
mortal  frame  and  to  attract  to  itself  other  spiritual 
influences  of  the  same  kind,  whose  presence  was 
manifested  on  several  occasions. 

Thus   once   he  went  with   some  of  his  disciples 
upon  the  top  of  a  high  mountain,  and  as  he  stood 

136 


THE  GREAT   RENUNCIATION        137 

there,  he  became  deeply  immersed  in  meditation, 
while  his  companions,  not  wishing  to  disturb  the 
sacred  silence,  watched  him  from  the  distance. 
Then  it  appeared  to  them  as  if  a  light  of  a  super- 
natural kind  were  emanating  from  him,  and  in  that 
light  they  beheld  the  presence  of  two  Adepts,  whom 
they  supposed  to  be  Moses  and  Elias  of  old. 

Such  an  occurrence  need  not  be  regarded  as  im- 
possible or  incredible  by  the  sceptic.  The  Higher 
Self,  the  divine  Adonai,  the  '  Spirit '  of  Man,  is  not 
a  poetical  fancy  or  a  metaphysical  hypothesis  to 
those  who  have  risen  up  to  his  sphere.  There  are 
perhaps  few  persons  who  have  not  at  least  once  in 
their  lives,  perhaps  during  the  days  of  their  childhood, 
felt  that  such  a  *  guardian  spirit '  was  near,  and  there 
is  abundant  evidence  in  the  biographies  of  heroes  and 
saints,  in  ancient  and  modern  history,  going  to  show 
that  man's  Higher  Self  may  manifest  itself  visibly  to 
the  lower  self,  and  that  it  may  have  spiritual  inter- 
course with  its  own  equals,  in  the  same  sense  as  a 
mortal  man  may  communicate  with  other  mortals 
upon  this  earth. 

As  to  the  nature  of  man's  divine  Self  we  are 
informed  by  the  ancient  Bhagavad  Gita,  that :  '  In 
this  world  there  are  two  existences,  the  perishable 
and  the  imperishable.  The  Perishable  consists  of  all 
living  things  (the  Senses,  etc.) ;  the  Imperishable  is 
called  the  Lord  on  high.  But  there  is  another, 
the  highest  existence,  called  the  Supreme  Spirit, 
who    as    the   eternal    Lord    (Iswara)^    pervades    the 

*  The  Logos  (Christ),  John  x.  9. 


138  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

three  worlds  and  sustains  them ' ;  and  we  are 
furthermore  informed  by  the  same  source,  that : 
'  Some  by  meditation  perceive  the  soul  within  them- 
selves by  themselves  .  .  .  ,  while  others,  who  know 
it  not,  hear  of  it  from  others,  and  worship,  and 
these  too,  devoted  to  the  sacred  doctrine,  pass  over 
death.' 

These  views  are  amply  corroborated  by  the  teach- 
ings of  Jehoshua,  who  speaks  of  himself  on  many 
occasions,  as  if  he  had  become  one  with  that  divine 
Self,  while  the  apostle  Paul  and  others  repeat  the 
same  doctrine  in  regard  to  the  corruptible  and 
incorruptible  body.^ 

Again  he  began  to  teach  in  the  towns  of  Galilee 
and  Judea,  and  more  than  ever  his  fame  spread  over 
the  country  and  penetrated  even  within  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem.  The  members  of  his  family,  who  were 
astonished  to  see  him  acquire  such  a  renown,  went  to 
him,  to  claim  him  as  one  of  their  own.  But  Jehoshua 
had  outgrown  that  stage  in  which  ties  of  blood  form 
any  attraction  to  men ;  he  had  become  one  with  his 
soul,  and  that  soul  was  not  the  son  of  a  mortal  woman. 
He  was  a  genius,  and  the  Universal  Spirit  his  Father ; 
he  was  above  all  terrestrial  considerations,  living 
entirely  in  the  realm  of  the  Ideal.  Our  parents  are 
the  progenitors  of  the  physical  forms  which  man 
temporarily  inhabits  during  his  earthly  life ;  but  that 
form  is  not  the  real  self  of  the  regenerated  man,  who 
existed  from  all  eternity.^ 

^  Colossians  i.  27.      2  Corinthians  iv.  16.     1  Corinthians  xv.  53. 
-  John  V.  26. 


THE   GREAT  RENUNCIATION        139 

Jehoshua  therefore  said :  '  Who  is  my  mother, 
and  who  are  my  brethren  ?  He  who  does  the  will  of 
our  eternal  Father  is  my  brother,  my  sister,  and 
mother.'  ^  He  was  so  taken  up  and  absorbed  by  the 
one  grand  idea  of  universal  fraternal  Love,  that  he 
lost  sight  of  the  earthly  ties  that  bind  personalities  to 
each  other.  In  his  superior  state  he  ceased  to  be  an 
individual  man  in  all  but  external  form ;  it  was  as  if 
his  soul  had  become  unconscious  of  inhabiting  a 
separate  state  of  existence,  and  had  mixed  with  the 
universal  indivisible  divine  Spirit. 

How  can  such  a  superior  state  be  realised  by  those 
who  cling  to  the  illusion  of  Self  ?  How  can  it  be 
understood  by  an  age  whose  fundamental  principle 
upon  which  its  religion  and  science,  politics  and  social 
intercourse  are  based,  is  the  illusion  of  Self,  and  to 
which  a  renunciation  of  personal  existence  appears  to 
be  identical  with  annihilation  ?  And  yet  Christians 
claim  to  believe  such  things  in  theory ;  for  the 
fundamental  doctrine  upon  which  original  Christianity 
was  founded  is  the  sacrifice  of  personal  existence, 
which  leads  to  a  resurrection  in  a  life  beyond  person- 
ality and  mortality. 

What  is  the  signification  of  the  Christian  Cross  ? 
Is  it  merely  a  memento  of  an  historical  event,  to  re- 
mind the  present  generation  that  some  eighteen 
hundred  years  ago,  an  honest  man  was  executed  as  a 
criminal  by  being  nailed  to  a  cross  ?  Then  if  that 
man  or  God  had  been  executed  by  means  of  a  gallows, 
a   gallows   would   have    become   the  emblem  of  the 

'  Matthew  xii.  50. 


140  THE   LIFE  OF  JEHOSHUA 

Christian  faith,  and  gallows  in  the  place  of  crosses 
would  now  be  seen  in  churches  and  houses  and  upon 
the  tops  of  the  spires  of  Christian  places  of  worship. 
No  !  The  Cross  has  a  far  deeper  signification  ;  it  is  a 
symbol  that  was  known  thousands  of  years  before  the 
advent  of  modern  Christianity;  it  may  be  found  in 
Indian  cave-temples  and  upon  relics  dating  from 
antediluvian  times.  It  cannot  mean  the  death  of  a 
god,  for  gods  are  immortal  and  cannot  be  killed ;  it 
means  the  entire  cessation  of  all  thoughts  of  self — of 
all  self-love,  self-will ;  it  means  the  mystic  death,  the 
renunciation  of  everything  belonging  to  personality 
and  limitation,  and  the  entering  in  a  life  in  the  Infinite, 
Unlimited,  and  Eternal.  This  renunciation  of  Self  is 
the  great  '  stone  of  contention '  in  the  way  of  those 
who  desire  to  become  immortal  while  they  yet  cling 
to  their  personal  self.^  This  superior  state  is  one  of 
spiritual  consciousness  above  all  sense  of  personality ; 
it  is  a  happy,  and  therefore  a  '  heavenly,'  state.  It 
requires  no  keys  of  bishop  or  pope,  nor  any  permission 
to  be  obtained  by  a  clergyman,  to  enter  its  portals; 
it  merely  requires  the  power  and  the  ability  to  give 
up  one's  love  for  the  lower  self  and  to  join  the 
consciousness  of  the  Higher  Self,  which  already  exists 
in  '  heaven.' 

How  could  the  prohibition  of  a  priest  or  the 
malediction  of  a  pope  ever  prevent  a  man  from  rising 
up  to  a  higher  region  of  thought  or  entering  a  higher 
state  of  consciousness  ?  If  a  man's  soul  is  able  to 
wing  itself  up  to  those  celestial  heights,  no  interdict 

^  Matthew  viii.  35 


THE   GREAT   RENUNCIATION        141 

will  be  able  to  prevent  it.  How  could  the  permission 
of  a  church  enable  man  to  enter  into  a  region  of 
thought  which  he  is  not  able  to  enter,  because  he  clings 
with  the  grasp  of  despair  to  his  lower  perishing  self  ? 
Verily  a  church  claiming  such  a  power  is  like  the 
Pharisees  of  old,  of  whom  Jehoshua  said  :  *  Woe  to 
you,  hypocrites !  who  devour  the  widows'  houses, 
pretending  to  give  spiritual  gifts,  while  you  do  not 
possess  them  yourselves.'  ^ 

This  doctrine  of  the  entire  renunciation  of  Self  is 
the  great  mystery  which  the  Spirit  of  Christ  has 
taught  at  all  times  through  the  mouths  of  the  sages ;  it 
is  the  great  secret  which  Jehoshua  vainly  attempted 
to  bring  to  the  understanding  of  a  selfish  nation ;  it  is 
the  great  truth  which  Divine  Wisdom  still  continues 
to  teach.  Jehoshua's  disciples  did  not  grasp  this  idea ; 
for  when  he  explained  to  them  that  it  was  necessary 
to  give  up  personal  existence,  to  gain  that  life  which 
is  eternal,  '  they  refused  to  go  any  further  with  him.' 
They,  too,  dreamed  of  a  sensual  heaven ;  their  aspira- 
tions did  not  rise  higher  than  to  gain  an  everlasting 
terrestrial  life  in  a  material  heaven,  where,  unburdened 
from  gross  matter,  their  astral  egos  might  enjoy  a  life 
resembling  the  one  upon  this  planet,  but  without  the 
sufferings  of  the  latter;  a  life  where  there  are  still 
personal  likes  and  dislikes,  attractions  and  desires, 
social  intercourse  and  amusements ;  a  life  in  a  limited, 
although  ethereal  form,  full  of  change,  and  therefore 
not  self-existent  and  not  eternal. 

But  Jehoshua  spoke  of  a  heavenly  state,  where  no 

Matthew  xxiii.  14, 


142  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

one  is  married  nor  given  in  marriage ;  where  there  is 
no  distinction  of  sex  or  race  or  of  reHgious  opinion ; 
where  each  individual  soul  is  a  spiritual  power,  a  note 
in  the  great  sympathy  that  constitutes  the  harmony 
of  the  All ;  a  state  in  which  we  will  all  be  one  in  Divinity, 
as  we  are  now  one  in  Humanity ;  an  existence  where 
all  are  cemented  together  by  the  universal  principle  of 
Love,  where  individual  consciousness  is  swallowed  up 
in  the  inconceivable  happiness  of  eternal  and  universal 
existence,  of  which  men  cannot  conceive  intellectually 
as  long  as  they  cling  to  form,  and  which  is  therefore 
like  nothing  to  them. 

A  kingdom  after  this  pattern  Jehoshua  wanted  to 
establish  even  on  this  earth.  He  wanted  to  unite  all 
mankind  by  the  power  of  fraternal  love,  to  do  away 
with  injustice,  superstition  and  priestcraft,  to  bring 
each  individual  up  to  a  conscious  realisation  of  his 
own  divine  nature,  to  induce  men  to  cultivate  their 
spiritual  talents  and  to  develop  the  spiritual  powers 
which  slumber  in  every  soul.  He  well  knew  that  all 
men  are  not  alike,  and  that  there  can  be  no  external 
equality  upon  the  material  plane  as  long  as  the 
process  of  evolution  lasts.  Permanent  equality  would 
mean  a  permanent  cessation  of  progress ;  it  would  be 
characterised  by  an  absence  of  that  necessary 
stimulus  which  causes  activity ;  but  he  knew  that  all 
men  had  the  same  natural  rights  for  the  attainment  of 
knowledge,  and  that  they  all  were  entitled  to  see  the 
truth  and  to  strive  after  supreme  and  eternal  happi- 
ness. He  wanted  to  give  them  a  higher,  a  true 
Ideal,  which  would   raise  them  up  into  the   highest 


THE   GREAT   RENUNCIATION        143 

regions  of  thought  to  a  nobler  conception  of  Man, 
and  thus  by  ennobhng  them  save  them  even  from 
their  material  degradation,  by  and  through  their  own 
efforts. 

Great  is  the  power  of  Wisdom !  It  captivates  even 
those  who  are  not  able  to  see  it,  provided  they  do  not 
wilfully  repel  its  light  when  it  seeks  to  enter  the  heart. 
The  soul  feels  the  power  of  wisdom  even  if  the  intel- 
lect cannot  grasp  it.  The  doctrines  of  Jehoshua 
captivated  the  minds  of  the  people;  they  began  to 
look  upon  him  as  the  promised  saviour,  who  had  come 
to  destroy  their  enemies,  to  make  the  poor  equals  of 
the  rich,  and  to  supply  all  with  comfort  and  happiness. 
Some  believed  him  to  be  an  incarnation  of  John  the 
Baptist;  others  imagined  they  beheld  in  him  the 
spiritual  power  of  an  Avatar.  The  Pharisees  and  the 
scribes  of  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  searched  their 
sacred  scrolls ;  but  they  could  find  no  prophecy  of  any 
star  that  was  to  arise  from  Nazareth ;  they  would  not 
believe  that  any  good  could  come  out  of  that  place. 
His  language  sounded  insulting  to  them,  because  it 
exposed  their  failings ;  his  doctrines  were  undermining 
the  foundation  upon  which  their  church  and  its 
dogmas  rested.  He  deserved  death,  and  it  was 
necessary  by  all  means  to  secure  his  person,  to  prevent 
further  mischief  to  the  interests  of  the  church.  In 
Galilee  he  was  secure  as  long  as  he  created  no 
political  trouble  with  the  Romans ;  the  authority  of  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem  did  not  extend  beyond  certain 
limits.  They  consulted  with  each  other  about  means 
to  coax  him  to  come  to  Jerusalem ;  they  tried  to  bribe 


144  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

his  family  to  induce  him  to  go  there,  and  his  brothers 
advised  him  to  go.^ 

The  idea  of  going  to  Jerusalem,  to  give  the  finishing 
stroke  to  his  work,  had  already  entered  the  mind  of 
Jehoshua.  He  well  knew  the  dangers  connected  with 
such  an  attempt ;  but  now  he  had  grown  strong  and 
powerful  and  risen  above  all  personal  considerations. 
His  personal  safety  seemed  to  him  not  worthy  of  a 
moment's  thought ;  it  was  the  truth — not  his  person — 
that  he  desired  to  defend  ;  and  if  his  mortal  body  were 
to  die  in  his  attempt  at  defending  the  truth,  the  cause 
which  he  advocated  could  only  gain  by  such  a 
sacrifice. 

In  vain  his  friends  pleaded  that  he  should  not 
thus  risk  his  Hfe.  Dark  clouds  of  the  future  rose  up 
before  his  clairvoyant  vision ;  but  above  these  clouds 
he  saw  a  light,  as  if  a  thousand  suns  were  bursting 
forth  in  the  sky,  filling  infinite  space  with  its  glory. 
He  beheld  his  human  personality  like  a  hardly 
perceptible  speck  of  dust  in  the  boundless  ocean  of 
matter.  Was  it  worth  while  to  consider  what  became 
of  such  an  insignificant  thing,  when  the  whole  of 
humanity  was  to  be  saved  from  ignorance  ? 

Let  the  would-be  wise  of  the  world  call  such  a 
state  of  mind  a  product  of  a  'morbid  imagination,' 
'hallucination,'  or  whatever  they  please.  To  the 
vulgar  everything  is  vulgar,  and  the  worm  crawling 
under  the  ground  can  realise  nothing  else  but  the 
presence  of  earth.  To  the  coward,  courage  would  be 
an  abnormal  state ;  to  the  stingy,  generosity  is  a 
^  John  vii.  3. 


THE   GREAT   RENUNCIATION        145 

pathological  condition ;  to  the  foohsh,  knowledge 
belongs  to  the  unknowable ;  to  the  selfish,  unselfishness 
is  an  absurdity.  When  our  philosophers  will  be  able 
to  answer  intelligently  the  question,  What  is  Matter? 
then  will  it  be  time  for  them  to  study  what  is 
Consciousness  or  Spirit.  When  our  anthropologists 
will  have  learned  something  more  about  the  constitu- 
tion of  Man  than  merely  his  phenomenal  aspect,  when 
our  naturalists  will  know  more  than  the  mere  superficial 
laws  of  nature,  and  our  *  Divines '  are  divine  in  truth 
and  not  merely  in  name,  then  will  it  be  time  to  argue 
the  questions  of  eternity  and  immortality  with  them. 
Until  that  time  arrives,  '  the  wisdom  of  the  worldly 
wise  will  be  foolishness  in  the  eyes  of  Divine 
Wisdom.'  1 

In  our  utilitarian  age  the  most  useless  things  are 
looked  upon  as  Real  and  Useful,  and  that  which  is  of 
the  highest  use  in  the  end  is  regarded  as  an  Illusion. 
Matter  is  said  to  be  all,  and  Spirit  is  said  to  be  nothing. 
But  of  what  use  would  Matter  be  without  life  and 
without  thought  ?  how  could  we  utilise  Matter,  if  we 
had  no  Intellect  to  employ  it,  and  what  is  the  Intellect 
but  an  activity  of  matter  produced  by  the  stimulus 
coming  from  what  is  called  '  Spirit '  or  God  ? 

The  time  of  the  festival  of  the  Tabernacles  was 
approaching,  and  this  was  considered  by  Jehoshua  as 
the  most  appropriate  time  for  his  visit  to  the  capital 
of  Judea.  At  that  time  the  city  would  be  filled  with 
great  crowds  from  the  country,  upon  whose  good 
natural  common   sense  he   might  rely  to   a   certain 

'  John  vii.  3. 


146  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

extent,  because  they  were  less  sophisticated  than  the 
inhabitants  of  the  city,  whose  opinions  and  sentiments 
change  hke  the  wind,  where  a  hero  may  be  glorified 
to-day  and  stoned  to  death  to-morrow. 

The  followers  of  Jehoshua  saw  that  the  storm  was 
approaching.  Some  of  the  more  timid  ones  began  to 
regard  him  as  a  fanatic,  whose  rashness  was  about 
to  bring  on  his  destruction,  and  they  silently  retired  to 
their  homes.  Others  believed  that  the  long-expected 
day  of  judgment  was  about  to  appear  and  that  some 
great  miracle  was  to  take  place.  They  went  with  him, 
because  they  hoped  to  get  some  celestial  reward,  and 
they  already  began  to  dispute  which  one  of  them  would 
be  the  greatest  in  heaven.  Many  believed  that  he 
would  never  reach  Jerusalem  alive,  that  the  priests 
would  cause  him  to  be  murdered  on  the  way,  to 
avoid  the  sensation  which  was  certain  to  be  created  by 
his  open  arrest.  Perhaps  on  account  of  these  con- 
siderations Jehoshua  kept  his  plan  secret  and  did  not 
start  for  the  capital  with  the  usual  caravan,  but  left 
soon  afterwards  by  a  different  route,  going  by  the  way 
of  Sichem  and  through  the  country  of  the  Samaritans, 
known  as  the  place  where  works  of  charity  are  per- 
formed. 

It  is  said  that  when  he  entered  Jerusalem,  he  rode 
upon  an  ass  :  nor  could  it  have  been  otherwise ;  for 
the  truth  cannot  enter  the  soul  of  man  unless 
sitting  upon  the  ass  of  self-conceit,  and  those  who 
attempt  to  enter  the  temple  of  knowledge  carrying 
that  ass  on  their  backs  will  be  left  outside. 


THE    TEMPLE 

There  is  only  one  Temple  in  which  the  Truth  can  manifest  its 
divinity;  it  is  that  living  and  conscious  organism  which  constitutes 
the  soul  and  body  of  Man. 

The  unexpected  arrival  of  Jehoshua  at  Jerusalem 
was  to  the  Pharisees  of  the  temple  like  a  thunderbolt 
coming  from  a  clear  sky.  They  had  given  up  all 
hopes  of  drawing  him  into  their  net,  and  believed  that 
he  would  not  dare  to  come  to  Jerusalem,  and  now  the 
bird  arrived  voluntarily  and  without  any  coaxing. 
But  the  bird  was  an  eagle,  and  was  likely  to  tear  the 
meshes  with  his  claws  and  punish  his  assailants  with 
his  beak. 

The  first  information  they  received  of  the  arrival 
of  their  enemy  came  through  the  triumphal  shouts  of 
the  multitude  at  the  temple,  to  which  Jehoshua  had 
immediately  gone  and  where  he  inspired  his  hearers 
with  the  living  fire  of  truth  that  came  from  his  heart. 

They  went  to  the  place  where  he  spoke,  and  they 
asked  him  by  what  authority  he  was  teaching,  and  he 
answered  them  that  he  taught  by  the  authority  of 
that  omnipotent  power  which  inspired  the  ancient 
prophets ;  but  that  only  those  who  were  true  them- 
selves would  be  able  to  perceive  the  truth  speaking  in 
him ;    and  when  they  asked  him  to  prove   that  his 

147  L  2 


148  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

doctrines  were  true,  he  said :  *  The  doctrines  which 
I  teach  are  not  my  own,  but  it  is  the  Truth  which 
teaches  them  through  me.  He  that  teaches  his  own 
doctrines  and  theories  speaketh  of  himself;  he  is 
acting  under  the  impulse  of  earthly  ambition  and 
seeketh  his  own  glory  and  not  the  glory  of  God  ;  but 
he  that  seeks  to  glorify, — not  himself, — but  God,  by 
giving  expression  to  the  truth  of  which  he  is  conscious, 
is  true,  and  no  evil  can  be  in  him.^  Live  so,  that  you 
may  know  the  truth,  not  by  external  appearances  and 
argumentation,  but  by  its  own  inherent  power.^  Be 
true,  and  you  will  know  the  truth.'  ^ 

'  The  organism  of  Man,'  he  said,  '  resembles  a 
kingdom ;  its  capital  is  the  Mind,  and  its  temple  the 
soul.  In  that  capital  and  temple  there  are  many 
false  prophets,  as  there  are  in  Jerusalem.  There  are 
the  Pharisees  of  sophistry  and  false  logic,  credulity, 
and  scepticism ;  and  the  'scribes 'are  the  prejudices 
and  erroneous  opinions  engrafted  upon  the  memory. 
Do  not  listen  to  what  these  false  prophets  say,  but 
listen  to  the  voice  of  wisdom  that  speaks  in  your 
heart ;  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  the  temple,  built  of 
speculations  which  the  scribes  have  erected,  will  be 
destroyed,  and  not  one  of  the  dogmas  and  theories  of 
which  it  has  been  constructed  will  remain,  when  the 
day  of  sound  judgment  appears.* 

'  See  the  truth  enters  your  heart,  bearing  the  palm 
leaf,  the  symbol  of  peace.  Let  it  abide  in  you,  and 
abide  yourself  in  the  truth.     There  is  no  other  worship 

^  John  vii.  16.  ^  John  viii.  47. 

^  John  vii.  24.  ■*  Matthew  xxiv.  2. 


THE   TEMPLE  149 

acceptable  to  the  universal  God,  but  to  keep  his  com- 
mandments, which  he  reveals  to  you  through  the 
power  of  Divine  Wisdom,  whose  voice  speaks  in  your 
higher  consciousness.  Love  one  another ;  and  as  you 
grow  in  unselfish  love,  so  will  you  grow  in  wisdom. 

*  Those  who  are  seeking  for  Truth  in  external  things 
will  not  find  it,  for  the  external  world  is  merely  a  world 
of  appearances,  and  not  of  absolute  truth.  The  Spirit 
of  God  is  pervading  the  universe,  but  the  physical 
senses  are  not  constituted  to  see  it ;  neither  can  the 
finite  intellect  comprehend  the  Infinite.  Seek  for 
divine  wisdom  within  yourself ;  then  will  God  come 
to  reside  in  you,  and  you  will  find  him.  He  that  hates 
the  truth  hates  God,  for  the  Truth  is  divine  and  comes 
from  God.  If  you  let  the  spirit  of  Wisdom  abide  in 
your  hearts,  it  will  guide  you  into  the  light  of  knowledge  ; 
but  when  it  departs  from  your  heart,  then  will  you 
abide  in  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  and  your  soul  will 
weep  and  lament,  but  the  animal  instincts  within  you 
will  rejoice,  for  they  love  darkness  and  are  sorely 
grieved  by  the  light  of  the  truth. 

'  Open  your  hearts  and  see  the  image  of  the  true 
God  within  them.  He  is  not  to  be  found  in  man-made 
temples  and  churches ;  and  if  any  one  tells  you,  Christ 
is  in  this  church,  or  he  is  in  that  one,  do  not  believe 
it,  but  seek  for  God  within  your  own  heart.  Let  not 
the  Pharisees  and  the  scribes  and  the  intellectual 
powers  of  your  mind  mislead  you,  but  listen  to  the 
divine  voice  of  Intuition  which  speaks  at  the  centre 
of  your  own  soul.' 

It   may   easily  be   imagined  that  such   language 


150  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

exasperated  the  Pharisees  and  the  sceptics ;  nor  would  it 
be  tolerated  by  them  to-day.  They  attempted  to  have 
Jehoshua  arrested  upon  the  spot,  but  they  did  not 
succeed,  because  the  populace  took  his  part.  There  is 
an  eternal  battle  going  on  in  the  mind  of  man  and  on 
the  external  plane  between  error  and  truth,  between 
speculation  and  intuition,  between  true  religion  and 
priestcraft,  and  the  two  combatants  are  often  so 
intermingled  with  each  other,  that  it  is  exceedingly 
difficult  to  distinguish  them  from  each  other  and  to 
tell  where  the  truth  ends  and  where  falsehood  begins. 
Every  attack  made  upon  the  erroneous  opinions  and 
the  selfishness  of  the  church  autocrats  is  misrepresented 
by  the  latter  as  an  attack  upon  religion ;  not  upon 
their  religious  views,  but  as  an  attack  upon  religion 
itself.  Their  church  is  their  God,  and  the  interests 
of  the  church  are  their  religion ;  it  is  all  the  God  and 
the  religion  they  know ;  they  can  form  no  conception 
of  a  God  without  priestcraft,  nor  of  a  religion  without 
church  benefits.  Having  all  their  lives  kept  their  mind 
within  the  narrow  grooves  prescribed  for  them  by 
their  creeds,  having  become  accustomed  to  worship 
an  unnatural,  limited,  impossible,  and  helpless  God 
who  needs  the  assistance  of  the  clergy  to  teach  mankind ; 
the  universal,  omnipotent,  omnipresent  Divinity,  the 
Christ,  whose  light  shines  into  the  hearts  of  men,  is 
non-existent  to  them ;  and  although  they  preach  such 
Christ  with  their  mouths,  repeating  the  sayings  of  the 
ancient  books  of  wisdom,  without  understanding  their 
meaning,  nevertheless  they  deny  him  in  practice  and 
reject  him  on  every  occasion.     They  preach  love  and 


THE   TEMPLE  151 

act  hate ;  they  claim  to  love  God,  but  the  God  they 
love  is  fashioned  after  their  own  fancies,  and  by  loving 
him,  they  love  nothing  else  but  themselves.  Their 
God  is  a  limited,  personal,  circumscribed  and  narrow- 
minded  God,  and  their  love  is  equally  narrow-minded 
and  intolerant. 

Such  and  similar  truths  Jehoshua  attempted  to 
bring  to  the  understanding  of  the  people  in  the 
temple  of  Jerusalem.  '  The  spirit  of  Wisdom,' 
he  said,  '  that  speaks  in  me  and  through  my  lips, 
and  whose  voice  every  one  of  you  might  hear  within 
his  heart,  if  he  knew  how  to  listen  to  it,  is  the  way, 
the  truth,  and  the  Hfe.  It  is  the  light  of  the  world, 
and  he  that  followeth  it,  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life.^  He  who  has 
become  conscious  of  the  existence  of  that  light 
within  his  soul  will  not  die,  for  he  then  lives  in  the 
light  and  the  light  lives  in  him.^  I  am  not  asking  you 
to  believe  what  Jehoshua  says,  but  I  ask  you  to  seek 
for  the  truth  within  your  own  selves,  so  that  you  may 
know  that  the  truth  is  speaking  through  me ;  ^  for  the 
truth  is  self-evident  to  those  that  are  true,  and 
requires  no  other  certificate  but  its  own  self."*  I  am 
not  here  to  do  the  will  of  the  terrestrial  elements 
composing  that  frame,  but  to  do  the  will  of  the 
Supreme  Intelligence,  from  whom  all  spirits  are 
born.^  You  are  now  worshipping  something  of  which 
you  know  nothing ;  but  the  time  will  come  when  men 
will  rise  up  to  an  understanding  of  that  God  who  is 

*  John  viii.  12.  ^  John  vi.  57.  ^  John  v.  30. 

^  John  V.  36.  ^Johnvi.  38. 


152  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

not  a  product  of  the  imagination  of  man,  and  must 
be  worshipped  in  spirit  and  in  truth.^  Salvation  must 
come  from  within  yourself;  it  does  not  come  from 
without.  It  cannot  be  bought  with  sacrifices  nor 
be  conferred  upon  you  by  a  clergyman,  but  it  is 
attained  by  the  sacrifice  of  yourself.  If  the  spirit 
of  God  does  not  live  within  you,  how  can  you  expect 
to  live  ?"  for  the  spirit  of  God  is  Life  and  is  immortal 
in  Man.  The  gods  which  men  have  created  are  the 
servants  of  their  churches ;  but  the  true  God  is 
greater  than  the  church.  There  is  no  temple  worthy 
to  be  the  residence  of  the  God  of  Humanity,  but  the 
living  souls  of  those  who  are  pure  in  their  hearts.^ 
There  is  no  salvation  without  sanctification.'  * 

Such  unorthodox  language  was  as  intolerable  to 
the  Pharisees  as  it  would  be  to  their  modern  suc- 
cessors, if  it  were  publicly  repeated  to-day.  Such 
language,  if  tolerated,  would  overthrow  the  authority 
of  the  church  and  of  that  god  who  is  believed  to 
belong  to  the  church.  What  would  be  the  use  for 
men  to  hire  a  priest  to  intercede  with  God,  if  God 
accepted  no  intercession  ?  What  would  become 
of  the  doctrine  which  taught  that  the  Jews  were 
the  favourite  people  of  Jehovah,  if  Jehovah  had  no 
favourites  and  was  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  a 
universal  Spirit,  dispensing  life  and  light  to  all 
without  partiality  ?  *  This  man,'  they  said,  '  must 
surely  be  possessed  of  a  devil ' ;  and  they  consulted 
with  each  other  how  they  might  kill  him  ;  but  they 

^  John  iv.  22.  »  Luke  xvii.  21. 

-  Romans  viii.  8.  ^  Hebrews  xii.  14. 


THE   TEMPLE  153 

dared  not  to  attack  him  openly,  because  he  was  very 
popular,  for  there  were  many  among  the  crowd  who 
had  been  mentally  blind  all  their  life,  and  who  now 
became  able  to  open  their  eyes  and  to  see  the  light  of 
the  truth. 

The  people  always  admire  courage  and  intrepidity ; 
they  well  knew  the  dangers  by  which  Jehoshua  was 
surrounded,  and  the  fact  that  he  remained  within  the 
walls  of  Jerusalem  and  continued  to  teach  in  the 
temple,  in  spite  of  the  threatening  danger,  gained  for 
him  their  hearts. 

There  was  an  old  law,  which  said  that  whoever 
attempted  to  create  contempt  for  the  prevailing 
methods  of  worship,  or  to  cause  disrespect  in  regard 
to  the  established  forms  of  religion,  should  be  stoned 
to  death  without  the  privilege  of  a  hearing,  without 
judgment,  and  without  defence.  According  to  this 
law,  Jehoshua  had  many  times  incurred  the  penalty  of 
death,  but  the  Pharisees  did  not  dare  to  arrest  him,  on 
account  of  his  great  popularity. 

But  an  event  occurred  which  brought  on  the  end. 

As  the  mind  of  man,  the  temple  of  the  living  God, 
becomes  converted  into  a  stable  and  trading  shop,  if 
selfishness  is  permitted  to  enter ;  likewise  the  temple 
of  Jerusalem  had  become  converted  into  a  stable  and 
market-hall  by  the  selfishness  of  the  Pharisees.  The 
courts  of  the  temple  and  even  the  interior  halls  were 
fiilled  with  stalls,  where  merchants  sold  their  goods, 
and  the  noise  made  by  the  seller  who  praised  his  goods, 
and  the  buyer  who  attempted  to  cheapen  the  price, 
penetrated  into  the  innermost  sanctuary. 


154  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Grieved  at  this  desecration,  and  while  carried  away 
by  his  ardour,  he  overthrew  one  of  the  stalls  where  trin- 
kets were  sold,  and  his  enthusiastic  listeners  followed 
his  example.  Immediately  the  selfish  passions  of  the 
audience  were  aroused  ;  their  instincts  told  them  that 
an  opportunity  had  arrived  for  plunder,  and  a  fight 
ensued,  during  which  the  merchants  lost  their  goods 
and  were  driven  from  the  temple,  while  thieves  enriched 
themselves  with  their  stores. 

This  unfortunate  occurrence  broke  the  spell  by 
which  Jehoshua  ruled  the  hearts  of  the  people.  Brute 
force  can  never  be  an  ally  for  the  promulgation  of  the 
truth.  Wisdom  is  a  spiritual  power,  and  external 
measures  are  useless  for  its  purpose  unless  they  are 
guided  by  wisdom.  For  one  moment  only  the  great 
reformer  had  lost  the  mastery  over  himself,  and  now 
a  crime  had  been  committed.  At  that  moment  he 
had  ceased  to  be  a  representative  of  the  truth  and 
become  an  offender — not  merely  against  the  laws  of 
the  church,  but  against  the  divine  law  of  justice.  As 
long  as  he  contented  himself  with  denouncing  the 
selfishness  of  the  Pharisees,  he  merely  appealed  to  the 
power  of  reason,  but  by  his  perhaps  involuntary  and 
unpremeditated  act,  he  had  appealed  to  the  unreasoning 
instincts  of  the  populace  and  entered  into  relation 
with  the  elements  of  evil.  By  this  act  he  had  ceased 
to  be  a  reformer,  and  become  a  disturber  of  the 
peace. 

The  Pharisees  were  not  slow  to  recognise  the 
advantage  they  had  gained  by  this  event.  They 
now  appealed  to  the  sense  of  justice  and  reason,  and 


THE   TEMPLE  155 

Jehoshua  had  to  leave  the  city  to  avoid  arrest.  He 
went  to  the  village  of  Ephraim  and  remained  there 
with  his  disciples. 

History  is  said  to  be  always  repeating  itself. 
Even  the  Pharisees  of  the  world  and  the  reasoning 
powers  in  Man  are  willing  to  listen  to  the  voice  of  the 
truth  as  long  as  it  does  not  come  in  conflict  with  their 
selfish-interests.  All  men  admire  the  truth,  as  long 
as  he  remains  in  his  cage  and  does  not  threaten  their 
self-interest ;  but  when  he  overthrows  a  favourite 
creed,  then  will  they  drive  him  away  from  the  city. 
Then  will  the  spirit  of  Wisdom  have  to  retire  to  some 
quiet  place,  to  wait  until  the  storm  of  the  passion 
has  ceased,  when  it  may  again  attempt  to  enter  the 
heart. 


THE    HERO 

That  which  is  impermanent  and  illusive  depends  for  its  existence 
on  external  conditions.  That  which  is  real  and  permanent  finds  the 
necessary  conditions  within  itself. 

It  is  not  often  that  an  error  committed  does  not 
cause  another.  Jehoshua,  in  overthrowing  the  stall 
at  the  temple,  had  committed  a  mistake;  his  flight 
from  Jerusalem  was  another  one ;  it  was  dictated 
by  prudence  and  necessary  to  save  his  person  from 
danger,  but  personal  considerations  of  any  kind  should 
never  be  allowed  to  enter  the  mind  of  the  true  Adept, 
if  they  are  in  conflict  with  justice.  He  who  has  risen 
entirely  above  the  sphere  of  selfishness,  to  that  plane 
to  which  few  are  able  to  rise,  acts  only  in  accordance 
with  justice, — a  justice  blind  to  all  personal  claims. 
Such  justice  demanded  that  he  should  have  remained 
and  faced  the  consequence  of  the  act  for  which  he 
was  morally  responsible.  He  well  knew  that  if  he 
were  to  deliver  himself  to  his  enemies,  it  was  not 
justice  but  revenge  that  would  await  him;  but  he 
perceived  that  it  was  wrong  for  him  to  have  left 
Jerusalem,  and  that  it  would  have  been  his  duty  to 
remain  at  his  post.  Moreover,  the  row  at  the  temple  had 
caused  a  misunderstanding  in  regard  to  the  doctrines 
he  taught,  and  it  was  necessary  to  correct  this  mistake. 

156 


THE   HERO  157 

His  first  act  of  imprudence  could  not  be  remedied 
— the  stolen  goods  would  not  be  restored;  but  to 
remedy  the  second  mistake  was  in  his  power,  and  the 
fact  that  it  was  his  duty  to  return  to  Jerusalem  was 
strongly  impressed  upon  his  mind.  In  spite  of  the 
entreaties  of  his  friends,  he  therefore  resolved  to 
return,  and  he  selected  for  that  purpose  the  ap- 
proaching festival  of  the  Passover. 

From  a  worldly  and  personal  point  of  view  such  a 
resolution  appears  absurd;  but  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  higher  self  it  was  reasonable,  because  it  was 
right.  His  reason  and  logic  told  him  that,  while  he 
would  expose  himself  to  a  great  danger  if  he  returned 
to  Jerusalem,  he  would  probably  not  even  find  an  op- 
portunity to  explain  his  position ;  but  his  intuition 
told  him  that  by  returning  he  would  act  in  accordance 
with  justice.  The  intellect  argues  and  speculates 
to  find  out  what  may  be  true,  but  Wisdom  knows  the 
truth  without  any  argumentation.  His  intellect  told 
him  not  to  expose  his  person  to  danger ;  but  intuition 
told  him  to  go  without  fear :  for  even  if  the  Pharisees 
would  take  undue  advantage  of  him  and  act  unjustly 
towards  his  person,  that  was  their  own  affair,  which  he 
had  not  to  consider ;  for  no  man  can  be  made  respons- 
ible for  any  other  acts  than  those  which  he  performs 
himself  or  wilfully  causes  others  to  perform.  Logic 
came  and  told  him  that  it  would  be  far  more  reason- 
able for  him  to  escape,  for  he  would  be  able  to  do 
a  great  deal  more  good  for  humanity  by  continuing  to 
live,  than  if  he  were  to  go  to  the  capital  and  permit 
himself   to   be   killed   by   his   enemies;    but    Divine 


158  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Wisdom  bade  him  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  and  to  leave 
the  consequences  to  God. 

The  preparations  for  the  Passover  festival  had 
begun;  the  city  became  filled  with  strangers,  and 
once  more  Jehoshua  and  his  disciples  were  on  their 
way  to  Jerusalem.  It  was  publicly  known  that  the 
Sanhedrin  had  issued  an  order  to  have  him  arrested 
as  soon  as  he  should  enter  the  gates  of  the  city ;  and 
when  it  became  known  at  Jerusalem,  that  in  spite 
of  the  threatening  danger  he  was  on  his  way  to  return, 
his  friends  rejoiced  at  his  courage,  and  they  went  to 
the  suburb  to  meet  him.  They  received  him  with 
exclamations  of  joy  and  made  him  ride  in  their  midst. 
Thus  they  entered  the  gates  and  baffled  the  vigilance 
of  the  priests,  who  did  not  dare  to  arrest  him  while  he 
was  surrounded  by  so  many  adherents. 

Thus  does  the  soul  of  man  rejoice  when,  after  a 
period  of  darkness  during  which  the  truth  had 
departed,  and  sin  and  selfishness  assumed  the  rule, 
wisdom,  the  king  and  saviour,  appears  again  at  the 
gates.  At  such  a  solemn  moment  the  passions  flee  to 
their  dens,  superstitions  retire  to  their  corners.  Peace 
accompanies  the  king  and  enters  with  him,  and  the 
whole  interior  world  is  filled  with  light  and  resounds 
with  solemn  harmonies,  while  from  all  the  intelligent 
powers  arises  a  glad  Hosanna. 

But  the  priests  and  Pharisees  well  knew  that  their 
doom  was  approaching,  unless  they  acted  without 
further  delay.  If  they  permitted  him  to  remain  at 
Jerusalem,  he  would  indeed  become  a  king  of  the 
Jews;  for  he  gained  all  hearts,  not  so  much  by  his 


THE   HERO  159 

arguments  as  by  that  power  by  which  a  superior  spirit 
obtains  the  mastery  over  the  masses. 

The  arguments  which  Jehoshua  used  while  teaching 
in  the  temple  were  indeed  unanswerable  and  his  doc- 
trines were  sublime ;  but  his  ideas  were  too  grand  to 
be  understood  by  the  people  ;  they  could  not  grasp 
them  intellectually,  but  they  intuitively  knew  that  he 
was  right,  and  they  believed  not  merely  in  his  words, 
but  in  Him. 

The  Pharisees  consulted  with  each  other,  and  they 
agreed  that  it  was  not  advisable  to  attempt  to  arrest 
him  during  that  day ;  they  resolved  to  wait  until  the 
following  night,  and  they  bribed  one  of  his  followers 
to  inform  them  about  the  place  where  Jehoshua  was 
going  to  spend  the  night,  so  that  they  might  secure 
his  person  without  difficulty. 

Thus,  if  the  truth  has  once  entered  the  soul  and 
the  inhabitants  of  the  mind  have  become  conscious  of 
his  presence,  all  selfish  desires  will  become  subject  to 
his  supreme  will ;  nor  will  it  be  possible  for  doubts  to 
obtain  mastery  over  the  truth  as  long  as  the  light  of 
knowledge  exists ;  but  when  the  night  of  ignorance 
again  appears,  and  the  intelligent  spiritual  powers 
which  accompany  the  king  fall  asleep,  then  will  doubts 
again  appear,  and  by  bribing  Logic,  one  of  the  disciples 
of  Wisdom,  they  will  induce  him  to  use  his  sophistry 
and  to  traduce  his  Master ;  for  this  ^  Judas  Ischarioth' 
is  easily  influenced  by  selfish  desires  and  external 
illusions ;  it  can  easily  be  made  to  traduce  and  pervert 
the  truth :  but  if  it  allows  itself  to  be  thus  employed, 
it  would  be  better  it  had  never  been  born  ;  for  when 


160  THE   LIFE   OF   JEHOSHUA 

the  day  of  sound  judgment  appears  and  wisdom 
returns,  then  will  this  false  logic  be  forced  to  destroy 
itself  by  its  own  power,  and  by  its  own  deductions 
annihilate  itself. 

The  nearer  this  fallacious  logic  approaches  the 
truth,  the  more  dangerous  will  it  become ;  for  an 
argument  which  is  false  and  touches  the  truth,  becomes 
a  traitor  to  it.  Only  when  Logic  embraces  the  Truth 
and  remains  one  with  it,  can  it  be  trusted. 

The  chief  priests  and  the  elders  of  the  temple 
arrived;  and  as  they  dared  not  capture  him  in  the 
midst  of  the  crowd,  they  attempted  to  mislead  him 
with  their  arguments.  They  tempted  him,  and  asked 
whether  or  not  it  was  just  that  they  should  pay  taxes 
to  the  Emperor^  or  whether  they  should  give  up  their 
whole  life  to  the  contemplation  of  the  things  of  the 
Spirit.  And  Jehoshua  answered  them  in  parables, 
teaching  that  as  long  as  man  is  inhabiting  a  corporeal 
form,  it  is  his  duty  to  provide  for  that  form  ;  but  that 
he  should  not  give  to  Matter  that  which  belongs  to 
the  Spirit.  He  said  that  while  the  labour  of  the  body 
and  intellect  may  be  employed  for  terrestrial  purposes, 
they  themselves,  being  of  a  terrestrial  nature,  man's 
higher  intelligent  powers  and  aspirations  should 
always  be  directed  towards  the  Eternal.  The  body 
and  Intellect  of  Man  is  his  servant,  and  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  Master  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  latter ; 
but  the  Master  must  not  become  the  slave  of  his  ser- 
vant by  making  his  wisdom  subservient  to  the  intellect 
or  by  employing  his  reason  for  the  gratification  of  the 
animal  self. 


THE   HERO  161 

Then  spake  Jehoshua  to  the  multitude  and  to  his 
disciples,  and  said :  '  The  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees 
(the  intellectual  reasoning  powers  of  man)  have  occu- 
pied the  chair  belonging  to  Divine  Wisdom.  If  men 
speak  wisely,  observe  what  they  say ;  but  very  often 
they  speak  wise  words  and  do  not  act  wisely.  The 
priests  put  heavy  burdens  upon  the  people,  grievous 
to  be  borne,  but  they  themselves  will  not — nor  can 
they — lift  a  finger  to  move  them.  All  the  works  they 
do  are  done  for  the  purpose  of  being  seen  and  admired 
by  men ;  they  ornament  their  clothing  and  make  big 
arguments,  and  broad  borders  to  their  garments. 
They  love  the  uppermost  rooms  at  the  feast,  and  the 
chief  seats  in  the  synagogues ;  they  want  to  be  greeted 
in  the  markets  and  be  called  Rabbi,  Rabbi ;  but  be  ye 
not  called  Rabbi,  for  one  is  your  Master,  the  Truths 
and  all  ye  are  brethren.  Call  no  man  your  (spiritual) 
father  (by  adopting  his  opinion) ;  for  one  is  your 
Father^  the  consciousness  of  the  Truth.  The  Intellect 
seems  now  to  you  to  be  the  greatest  of  the  powers  of 
man  ;  but  it  can  only  be  the  greatest  if  it  is  illuminated 
by  Wisdom. 

*  Woe  to  you.  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  for  ye  shut 
up  the  kingdom  of  heaven  against  men,  by  preventing 
them  from  attaining  spiritual  knowledge.  Ye  neither 
go  in  yourselves,  neither  will  ye  suffer  them  that  are 
entering  to  go  in.  You  send  your  missionaries  to 
encompass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte ;  and 
when  he  is  made,  ye  make  him  twofold  more  the  child 
of  evil  than  yourself,  because  you  teach  him  to  argue 
and  use  sophistry,  and  to  cling  to  external  illusions. 


162  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Woe  unto  you,  who  are  blind  to  the  spiritual  perception 
of  the  truth,  while  you  pretend  to  be  the  keepers  of  it, 
ye  blind  guides  who  strain  at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a 
camel.  You  are  like  whited  sepulchres,  which  appear 
beautiful  outward,  but  which  are  within  full  of  dead 
men's  bones  and  corruption.  Wisdom  has  departed 
from  you,  and  will  not  return  until  you  give  up  your 
hypocrisy  and  selfishness,  and  learn  to  worship  the 
truth. 

'  He  who  is  filled  with  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  possess- 
ing spiritual  knowledge,  is  the  heaven-ordained  priest, 
the  true  shepherd,  and  those  who  love  the  truth  know 
his  voice ;  but  the  merely  man-ordained  and  selfish 
priests,  full  of  vanity  and  having  no  truth  in  their  hearts, 
are  like  thieves  that  enter  the  sheepfold,  not  through 
the  legitimate  door  of  direct  perception,  but  by  climbing 
in  through  the  window  of  argumentation.' 

Such  language  was  sufficient  to  wound  the  vanity 
of  the  Pharisees  and  their  followers,  and  it  was  the 
more  painful  because  it  was  true.  Accusations  or 
vilifications  which  are  not  just  cause  no  pain  to  the 
self-conscious  spirit ;  they  drop  like  blunt  arrows  from 
the  armour  of  him  who  rises  above  them  ;  but  the  more 
an  accusation  approaches  the  truth,  the  more  will  it 
penetrate  to  the  heart  and  cause  a  painful  wound.  If 
the  death  of  Jehoshua  had  not  been  already  resolved 
upon  by  the  priesthood,  this  public  exposition  of  their 
hypocrisy  and  untrustworthiness  would  have  been 
sufficient  to  draw  their  venomous  hate  upon  him ; 
moreover,  his  death  was  now  a  matter  of  political 
necessity,  for  as  long   as   the   truth   is   permitted   to 


THE   HERO  163 

remain,  there  is  no  security  for  priestcraft,  sectarianism 
and  erroneous  opinions. 

He  had  aroused  the  spirit  of  inquiry  among  the 
intelHgent  powers ;  he  had  dared  to  tear  the  masks 
from  conceit  and  hypocrisy,  and  to  hold  up  the  naked- 
ness of  time-honoured  superstitions  to  pubHc  contempt, 
and  he  was  hated  and  feared  by  the  orthodox  Jews. 
They  desired  to  kill  him,  because  Logic  easily  becomes 
the  enemy  of  the  truth  if  Selfishness  whispers  in  his 
ear. 

As  a  matter  of  course,  it  was  not  to  be  supposed 
that  the  crowds  which  listened  to  his  language  under- 
stood his  ideas  ;  for  ideas,  like  trees,  do  not  grow  up 
and  unfold  in  one  day  like  a  product  of  Magic  ;  they 
require  time  to  take  root  in  the  mind,  to  bring  forth 
branches  and  leaves,  to  bear  flowers  and  fruits ;  but 
some  seeds  had  been  laid  in  the  soil,  and  some  persons 
commenced  to  think ;  some  of  the  intuitional  powers 
within  the  mind  had  begun  to  wake  up  and  become 
receptive.  Some  remained  in  that  condition,  while 
others  went  to  sleep  again,  like  a  drunken  man  who 
opens  his  eyes  as  the  thunder  rolls  in  the  sky,  and  then 
falls  back  again  into  his  stupor. 

It  may  be  asked :  *  Why  should  mankind  be 
disturbed  in  their  happy  dreams  ?  Why  should  they 
be  enlightened  in  regard  to  things  which  they  do  not 
care  to  know,  being  happy  in  their  ignorance  ?  Is  not 
the  object  of  life  the  attainment  of  happiness,  and 
how  could  we  convey  a  greater  happiness  upon  man- 
kind, than  by  saving  them  the  trouble  of  thinking,  by 
taking  the  labour  for  their  salvation  upon  our  shoulders, 

M  2 


164  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

so  that  they  may  spend  all  their  time  for  pleasure  and 
for  the  acquisition  of  luxury  ?  Is  not  the  ideal  golden 
age  one  in  which  all  men  are  of  one  opinion,  and  what 
greater  peace  could  we  convey  upon  men  than  to  cause 
them  all  to  embrace  one  belief?  If  they  would  all 
believe  as  we  do,  they  would  be  happy  and  bless  us  as 
their  redeemers.' 

Such  fallacious  arguments,  full  of  sophistry,  are 
often  used  by  the  followers  of  dogmatic  theology.  If 
all  men  could  be  supplied  with  an  equal  share  of 
wisdom,  they  would  all  be  equally  happy ;  but  opinion 
is  not  knowledge,  ignorance  is  not  wisdom,  animal 
comfort  is  not  the  object  of  life,  knowledge  of 
external  things  is  not  the  aim  of  existence,  a  merely 
imaginary  salvation  does  not  convey  immortality. 
If  all  men  could  be  transformed  into  stones,  all 
would  cease  to  suffer;  if  they  were  all  enclosed 
in  one  common  tomb,  they  would  all  be  equally  at 
peace. 

The  object  of  life  is  not  life  itself,  but  the  attain- 
ment of  a  higher  degree  of  perfection  in  the  ladder  of 
evolution ;  the  attai  nment  of  a  higher  state  of  conscious- 
ness, which  can  be  reached  only  through  that  spiritual 
knowledge  which  ennobles  the  soul.  What  would  a 
being  transferred  into  the  spiritual  realm  do,  if  it 
possessed  merely  a  knowledge  of  externals,  but  no 
consciousness  for  spiritual  things,  and  consequently 
of  power  to  perceive  its  surroundings  ?  What  would 
it  do  in  the  realm  of  Divine  Wisdom,  if  it  merely 
possessed  the  artificial  light  of  Logic,  but  not  the 
light  of  the  living  Christ  ?     Surrounded  by  darkness, 


THE   HERO  165 

it  would  exist  within  the  hell  created  by  its  own 
imagination,  until  the  laws  of  its  being  would  permit 
it  to  come  back  again  to  this  earth  to  seek  for  light  in 
a  new  expression  in  form. 

'  Man  has  before  him  life  and  death ;  whatever  he 
chooses  will  be  given  to  him.'  ^  If  he  chooses  to  re- 
main in  darkness  and  ignorance,  trusting  that  another 
will  do  his  own  work,  his  choice  will  be  death  in  the 
spirit ;  if  he  wants  to  live  he  must  work ;  for  the 
truth,  when  it  once  enters  the  heart,  will  bring  peace 
to  the  spirit;  but  to  the  soul  it  will  bring  the 
sword  with  which  to  combat  selfish  desires  and  to 
conquer  Self.^ 

It  is  not  '  Morals '  that  we  attempt  to  preach,  but 
the  awakening  of  the  inner  man  to  a  realisation  of  his 
own  true  manhood.  It  is  not  a  scheme  of  salvation 
by  which  divine  justice  may  be  cheated,  or  a  certain 
rule  of  conduct  that  we  wish  to  establish,  but  the 
attainment  of  knowledge.  The  external  conduct  of  a 
man,  however  good  it  may  be,  amounts  to  little  as  far 
as  he  himself  is  concerned,  unless  it  is  a  true 
expression  of  the  internal  state  of  his  mind.  Good 
conduct  accompanied  with  evil  thoughts  and  desires 
is  often  a  result  of  cowardice  and  hypocrisy. 

As  the  evening  approached,  Jehoshua,  with  his 
disciples,  retired  to  the  house  of  a  friend,  to  partake 
of  the  supper  that  had  been  prepared  for  them.  He 
spoke  to  them  of  the  immortaliry  of  that  divine  and 
universal  essence  contained  in  every  soul,  and  how 
all    souls    in    which    this    principle    would    become 

'  John  iii.  13.  "  Sirach  xt.  17. 


166  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

self-conscious,  would  thereby  be  rendered  consciously 
immortal.  He  spoke  of  that  divine  life  of  Intelligence 
that  renders  the  soul  which  it  permeates  luminous, 
like  a  ray  of  sunlight  pervading  a  crystal  globe,  while 
the  souls  of  those  who  were  filled  only  with  the  love 
of  self  become  dark,  when  the  mortal  intellect  whose 
illusive  light  illuminated  them  during  terrestrial  life 
had  become  dissolved. 

'  He  who  cUngs  to  his  lower  self,'  he  said,  '  will  die 
with  the  latter ;  but  he  who,  even  during  his  life  upon 
this  earth,  rises  above  all  selfish  thoughts,  and 
becomes  conscious  of  being  an  integral  part  of  the 
divine  Spirit  that  pervades  all  creation,  will  live. 
The  soul  of  Man,  having  during  his  terrestrial  life 
become  united  with  God,  when  the  physical  body  dies, 
returns  with  the  spirit  to  the  divine  Centre  to  which  it 
is  attracted  by  the  laws  of  its  constitution,  and  will 
bring  its  own  light  with  it,  thereby  increasing  the  light 
of  that  Centre.  Thus  it  will  glorify  God,  and  an 
increased  radiance  of  Light  will  take  place  and  bless 
the  hearts  of  mankind.^  Partake  ye  all  of  that 
Light  which  gives  life,  for  it  is  the  nourishment  of 
the  soul,  it  will  form  the  substance  of  the  celestial 
body;^  but  the  wine  of  spiritual  love  is  the  great 
fiery  stimulus,  that  causes  the  souls  of  men  to  expand 
beyond  the  narrow  spheres  of  self-adulation  and 
personal  existence,  so  that  they  may  become  like 
gods.  There  is  no  one  to  condemn  you  for  your 
mistakes,  unless  you  condemn  yourself.  Those  who 
are  unable  to  see  the  truth,  will  not  be  punished  for 

*  John  xxiv.  17.  *  Matthew  xxv.  26. 


THE   HERO  167 

their  ignorance ;  but  they  will  remain  in  darkness 
until  they  learn  to  open  their  eyes  and  to  see  the 
light ;  but  those  who  are  conscious  of  the  truth  and 
reject  it,  prefer  death  to  life,  and  they  therefore 
commit  spiritual  suicide,  that  unpardonable  sin,  which 
causes  their  own  destruction.'  ^ 

They  complained  to  him  how  difficult  it  was  to 
keep  the  thoughts  continually  directed  towards  the 
Eternal  and  to  exclude  selfish  desires,  and  he  told  them 
that  in  proportion  as  they  would  love  all  mankind  they 
would  forget  their  love  of  self,  and  that  as  their 
thoughts  would  reach  up  towards  the  Infinite,  their 
own  spheres  of  consciousness  would  expand  beyond 
the  region  of  selfish  desires.  Moreover,  he  taught 
them  a  prayer,  which  he  had  learned  in  Egypt  from 
the  book  of  '  Kadish,'  and  which  they  might  repeat  in 
silence,  keeping  their  thoughts  fastened  to  the  senti- 
ments therein,  to  prevent  them  from  sinking  into  the 
lower  region  of  minds.  In  its  esoteric  meaning  it  may 
be  rendered  as  follows : — 

*  Let  us  glorify  the  universal  Spirit  of  Divine 
Wisdom,  from  whose  Light  the  consciousness  of  all 
beings  originates ;  let  us  worship  Him  by  sacrificing 
to  Him  all  thoughts  of  self  and  all  individual  self- 
interests,  and  by  rising  up  to  His  sphere  in  our  thoughts 
and  aspirations.  May  no  earthly  wish  ever  cause  us 
to  act  against  the  universal  Will  of  the  Supreme,  who 
rules  all  things  in  the  visible  and  invisible  universe  by 
His  unchangeable  Law!  May  his  power  cause  all 
mankind  to  grow  in  daily  knowledge  and  to  expand  in 

^  John  xii.  47. 


168  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

Love,  and  may  all  men  awaken  to  a  realisation  of 
their  true  state  as  spiritual  powers,  temporarily  con- 
nected with  mortal  forms !  Let  no  thoughts  of  our 
past  deeds,  when  we  were  in  a  state  of  darkness,  mar 
our  present  state  of  supreme  happiness,  and  let  us 
forget  all  the  evils  that  have  ever  been  inflicted  upon 
us  by  others.  Let  us  strive  to  become  free  from  all 
the  attractions  of  matter  and  sensuality,  and  submerg- 
ing our  consciousness  into  that  of  the  Universal  and 
Supreme,  become  redeemed  from  the  illusion  of  self, 
the  source  of  all  evil ;  for  the  mortal  self  of  man  is 
merely  an  unsubstantial  shadow,  while  the  Real  and 
Substantial  is  the  Indivisible,  Eternal,  and  Infinite 
Spirit.' 

While  discussing  such  matters,  the  evening  passed 
away  and  the  sun  sank  down  below  the  western  horizon, 
when  they  arose  to  take  a  walk  in  the  suburbs,  to 
breathe  the  balmy  air  of  spring  and  to  pass  the  night 
in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane. 

As  long  as  the  soul  of  man  is  chained  to  its  material 
form,  there  will  always  be  moments  when  that  which  is 
mortal  in  man  attempts  to  assert  its  claims.  The  love 
of  life  is  an  inherent  property  of  the  animal  element  in 
nature,  and  the  mortal  parts  in  the  constitution  of 
Jehoshua  seemed  to  feel  the  impending  doom  and 
revolted.  He  therefore  left  his  disciples  and  went  a 
little  higher  up  on  the  hill,  to  seek  consolation  from 
the  Divinity  in  his  soul  and  to  gather  courage  and 
strength,  and  while  he  sunk  his  thoughts  down  to  the 
utmost  depths  of  his  soul  and  seriously  prayed  to  the 
Godhead  within,  he  became  lost  to  all  his  surroundings. 


THE   HERO  169 

Again  that  divine  Light  which  at  the  time  of  his 
Initiation  and  upon  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration 
had  filled  his  soul,  illumined  his  mind,  filling  him  with 
consolation  and  joy,  so  that  he  forgot  that  he  was  an 
isolated  being  and  realised  his  Unity  with  the  Eternal 
Father  of  All. 


THE    FINAL    INITIATION 

The  light  of  Divine  Wisdom  will  not  be  seen  in  its  purity  until 
the  clouds  of  matter  that  obscure  the  sight  are  dispersed;  the 
sanctuary  of  the  temple  cannot  be  seen  until  the  curtain  is  lifted. 

The  light  of  torches  appeared  in  the  distance,  the 
clang  of  arms  resounded  through  the  garden  of  Geth- 
semane,  and  the  guardians  of  the  temple  accompanied 
by  a  crowd  of  fanatical  Jews  approached  the  grove 
where  Jehoshua  was  absorbed  in  deep  meditation 
while  his  disciples  slept.  The  approach  of  the  soldiers 
called  him  roughly  back  from  the  realities  of  the  Ideal 
to  the  illusions  of  Earth,  and  the  disciples  fled  in  dis- 
may; nor  would  the  guard  have  permitted  them  to 
escape  if  they  had  remained;  still  less  would  they 
have  suffered  them  to  offer  any  resistance.  They 
knew  Jehoshua  very  well,  for  they  had  seen  him 
many  times  in  the  temple ;  but  the  Truth  they  did  not 
know  face  to  face;  they  only  knew  it  from  hearsay 
and  from  the  revelations  made  by  Logic,  the  traitor. 

They  bound  him  and  took  him  through  the  now 
almost  deserted  streets  to  the  house  of  the  High 
Priest,  where  he  was  kept  a  prisoner  until  the  day 
began  to  dawn,  and  then  they  led  him  out  of  the  city 
upon  a  hill  and  threw  stones  at  him  until  he  was 
dead,  according  to  their  law. 

170 


THE    FINAL   INITIATION  171 

Thus  the  body  of  Jehoshua  Ben-Pandira  died ;  and 
as  his  great  soul  left  its  earthly  tenement,  the  latter 
grew  dark,  having  been  deserted  by  the  light  of  the 
spirit,  and  its  tombs  opened  to  let  the  vital  powers 
escape ;  the  veil  of  Matter,  which  during  his  terres- 
trial life  had  hidden  the  sanctuary  of  the  Temple  of 
the  Universal  Spirit  from  the  sight  of  his  soul,  was 
now  rent  asunder,  and  the  genius  of  Jehoshua  went 
rejoicing  back  to  the  bosom  of  his  eternal  Father,  to 
receive  his  final  Initiation  into  that  Mystery  which 
can  be  known  only  to  those  who  have  attained  a  state 
beyond  all  imaginable  isolated  existence,  but  which 
consists  in  becoming  one  with  that  which  really  is  and 
in  partaking  of  its  divine  nature  and  universal  self- 
consciousness.  As  his  great  Soul  became  resurrected 
from  the  grave  of  Matter,  wherein  it  had  been  im- 
prisoned during  its  terrestrial  life,  all  the  intellectual 
powers  of  his  mind  arose  from  their  prisons  and 
walked  again  in  the  bright  daylight  of  Divine 
Wisdom. 

After  he  had  expired,  they  nailed  his  body  upon  a 
wooden  cross  and  left  it  there  exposed,  as  a  warning 
to  all  who  might  henceforth  dare  to  defend  the  truth 
against  superstition  and  scepticism,  and  the  hate  with 
which  they  regarded  him  has  descended  upon  their 
successors,  so  that  even  now,  when  the  latter  refer  to 
Jehoshua  Ben-Pandira,  they  speak  of  him  merely  as 
the  man  whose  name  ought  not  to  be  uttered. 

His  followers  took  the  corpse  down  from  the  cross 
and  buried  it  secretly,  so  that  it  should  be  no  more 
desecrated,  for  they  looked  upon  their  Master  with 


172  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

great  reverence  and  almost  worshipped  him  as  a  god. 
In  fact,  the  beHef  that  the  person  of  Jehoshua  had 
actually  been  a  god  gained  more  and  more  credence 
among  the  ignorant,  and  there  was  especially  one 
man,  named  Peter,  who,  having  been  an  ignorant 
fisherman,  had  become  one  of  the  disciples  of 
Jehoshua,  whose  teachings  he  could  not  comprehend, 
and  who  now  began  to  teach  this  erroneous  doctrine. 
He  was  seriously  opposed, by  Paul,  a  man  of  superior 
understanding,  who  taught  that  the  universal  God 
could  not  be  a  mortal  man ;  but  that  He  was  eternal 
and  omnipresent ;  that  '  He  is  before  all  things  and 
by  him  all  things  exist ' ;  ^  and  that  the  Christ  is 
likewise  an  eternal,  omnipresent  principle,  the  first- 
born and  greatest  of  all  spiritual  Powers,  constituting 
Himself  the  head  of  that  universal  spiritual  Temple, 
wherein  the  Spirit  of  Divine  Wisdom  in  his  fulness 
dwells,  and  which  not  merely  embraces  all  mankind,^ 
but  the  whole  of  the  Universe  with  all  its  inhabited 
worlds ;  that  '  church '  whose  High  Priest  is  the 
Truth,  whose  dogma  is  universal  fraternal  Love, 
and  whose  knowledge  comes  to  all  who  open  their 
hearts  to  receive  it.^ 

But  Peter,  whose  spiritual  perception  had  never 
been  opened  like  that  of  Paul,  and  who  was,  more- 
over, a  vain  and  ambitious  person,  wanting  to  rule 
and  to  occupy  himself,  the  place  of  Jehoshua,  taught 
that  men  could  not  be  saved  by  the  attainment  of 
Divine  Wisdom,  but  only  through  the  authority  of 
the   church  ;    and  as  there  are  always  more  people 

'  Colossians  i.  17.  *  Ibid.  iii.  11.  '  Ibid.  i.  27. 


THE   FINAL   INITIATION  173 

willing  to  take  the  easy  road  and  submit  to  be  saved 
by  somebody,  than  such  as  are  willing  to  use  strong 
efforts  for  themselves,  the  doctrines  of  Peter  found 
more  adherents  than  those  of  Jehoshua  and  Paul,  and 
thus  Peter,  by  teaching  a  doctrine  contrary  to  that  of 
Jehoshua,  became  a  traitor  to  his  Master  and  denied 
him  thrice  even  before  the  cock  had  crowed  to 
announce  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  of  enlightenment 
to  mankind.  Thus  the  darkness  of  ignorance  was 
re-established  upon  the  Earth,  and  the  sacrifice  of 
Jehoshua  was,  to  a  great  extent,  rendered  useless 
by  those  who  claimed  to  be  his  successors. 

But  the  God  that  gave  Jehoshua  life  and  spoke 
through  his  lips  is  not  dead.  He  still  enters  the  heart 
without  asking  permission  of  the  Pharisees  and  the 
Scribes.  If  his  presence  is  once  realised  within  the 
soul,  then  will  man  begin  to  know  the  King  of  the 
Jews,  and  bow  down  before  Him.  Then  will  the  money- 
changers, the  sophists,  and  scribes  be  driven  away. 
The  three  Sages  from  the  East,  the  principal  powers 
of  Man,  his  Will,  Thought,  and  Action,  guided  by 
the  star  of  Wisdom,  will  come  and  offer  a  continual 
sacrifice  to  the  new-born  God ;  the  soul  of  Man  will 
become  transformed  from  a  stable  into  a  temple, 
wherein  Herodes,  the  king  of  selfishness,  has  no 
jurisdiction.  The  Christ  growing  strong  within  man 
will  select  those  of  his  intellectual  powers  which  are 
suitable  to  become  His  disciples ;  he  will  cure  man's 
mental  blindness,  purify  his  mind  of  its  leprosy,  drive 
out  the  evil  spirits  of  envy,  malice,  and  lust  from  the 
soul,  and  make  the  virtues   which   have   died,   alive 


174  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

again,  even  if  they  have  already  begun  to  acquire  a 
bad  odour.  New  powers  will  awaken  within,  but  their 
development  involves  the  crucifixion  and  death  of  all 
that  is  evil  and  selfish  in  Man.  Then  when  selfish- 
ness has  died  and  been  buried,  will  the  free  spirit 
within  resurrect  from  its  tomb,  and  its  glorified  form 
will  become  visible  to  the  eyes  of  the  soul. 

Listen !  A  well-known  voice,  which  no  one  can 
misunderstand,  is  calling  within  your  heart.  It  is  the 
true  Saviour,  speaking  now  as  he  did  when  he  spoke 
in  the  heart  of  Jehoshua :  *  I  am  the  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life ;  no  one  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by 
me.'  This  Christ  has  never  died,  but  men  have 
spiritually  died  when  they  became  unconscious  of  his 
existence.  He  has  been  always  with  you,  but  you  did 
not  know  it ;  because  your  attention  was  attracted  to 
your  semi-animal  self.  He  is  your  own  God,  the 
divine  self  of  all  men.  He  lives  in  that  sphere  where 
no  separation  and  isolation  exists ;  but  where  all  are 
as  one.  He  requires  no  substitute  to  speak  to  your 
heart,  no  deputy  to  enter  into  communication  with 
you,  no  *  successor,'  for  He  is  here  Himself.  He  is 
yourself,  and  you  will  be  He  if  you  will  merely  open 
your  eyes  and  become  conscious  of  his  Divinity  within 
yourself  by  living  in  accordance  with  his  divine  Will. 

Not  to  depend  upon  the  promises  of  another  man, 
even  if  they  are  said  to  emanate  from  a  god ;  but  to 
exert  your  own  efibrts  and  to  put  your  trust  in  that 
which  is  divine  within  yourself ;  to  become  conscious 
of  the  existence  of  God  by  rising  up  to  the  highest 
regions  of  thought  and  to  remain  therein ;  this  will  be 


THE    FINAL   INITIATION  175 

the  religion  of  the  future — the  only  religion  worthy 
of  an  enlightened  humanity.  Then  will  the  true  faith 
be  restored ;  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  priestcraft, 
superstition,  and  scepticism  will  disappear,  and  our 
works  will  correspond  with  our  thoughts.  Then  will 
our  knowledge  not  be  based  upon  the  opinion  of  any 
other  man,  but  upon  our  own  power  to  see  and 
perceive  the  truth,  and  upon  an  understanding  of  the 
laws  of  Nature  and  the  corresponding  nature  of  Man. 
As  long  as  men  crucify  the  truth,  and  keep  it 
hanging  between  superstition  and  doubt,  the  two 
thieves  that  steal  the  reason  of  man  away,  they  will 
not  be  able  to  become  self-conscious  of  its  divinity. 
To  obtain  self-knowledge  of  the  Truth,  man  must  be 
one  with  it,  and  exalt  it  by  exalting  himself  above  the 
sphere  of  credulity  into  the  region  of  pure  spiritual 
knowledge.  Eternal  Truth  is  immortal,  and  cannot 
be  grasped  by  mortal  man  ;  it  can  only  be  known  to 
that  principle  which  is  immortal  in  man.  The  Truth 
can  be  known  only  to  itself. 


THE   CHURCH 

Woe  to  him  who  pretends  to  be  a  co-operator  of  God  without  being 
a  god.  Let  those  who  desire  to  reform  the  world  begin  by  reforming 
themselves. 

Soon  after  the  death  of  Jehoshua  a  spook  is  said 
to  have  appeared  to  Peter  and  his  associates,  and 
assuming  the  shape  of  Jehoshua,  to  have  said  to  those 
present :  '  Whosesoever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted 
to  him-;  and  whosesoever  sins  ye  retain,  they  are 
retained'  Whether  this  self-evident  falsehood,  con- 
trary to  all  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  was  uttered  by  an 
Elemental,  parading  in  the  astral  remnant  of  Jehoshua, 
or  whether  it  was — like  many  other  sayings  contained 
in  the  Bible — a  pious  interpolation,  made  in  the 
interest  of  the  church,  or  whether  it  has  an  esoteric 
meaning,  referring — not  to  the  '  apostles,'  but  to  the 
memory  of  Man ; — the  acceptation  of  this  doctrine 
completely  neutralised  all  that  Jehoshua  ever  taught ; 
it  caused  divine  wisdom,  justice,  and  truth  to  be 
henceforth  regarded  as  matters  of  little  importance ; 
it  did  away  with  the  eternal  God  of  the  universe,  and 
established  in  its  place  the  rule  of  a  man-made  church. 
Absurd  and  monstrous  as  such  a  doctrine  will 
necessarily  appear  to  all  who  are  able  to  use  the 
power  of  enlightened  reason  with  which   they   have 

176 


THE   CHURCH  177 

been  endowed  by  God,  it  was  nevertheless  greedily- 
grasped  by  the  ignorant  and  by  those  who  worshipped 
at  the  altar  of  Self ;  for  in  the  place  of  the  invisible 
and  intangible  God  of  humanity,  whose  presence  can 
only  be  perceived  spiritually  by  those  who  are  pure  in 
their  hearts,  and  whose  eternal  laws  cannot  be  changed 
by  men,  it  furnished  them  with  visible  and  tangible 
gods  in  human  shapes,  who  could  be  bribed  and 
bargained  with  ;  with  a  church  that  had  the  power  to 
permit  mankind  to  sin,  and  nevertheless  to  admit 
them  to  heaven  after  their  death. 

The  words  spoken  by  Jehoshua,  when  he  said : 
'  Come  unto  me,  all  who  are  suffering  sorrow,  and  I 
will  give  you  peace.  Follow  me;  my  yoke  is  easy 
and  my  burden  is  light,'  were  now  travestied  by  the 
rulers  of  the  church,  and  misapplied  by  interpreting 
them  in  an  external  sense,  entirely  opposed  to  that 
which  Jehoshua  intended  to  convey ;  for  he  meant  to 
say  that  those  who  would  open  their  hearts  to  Divine 
Wisdom  and  follow  the  dictates  of  the  Truth,  would 
easily  rise  above  the  sufferings  caused  by  the  illusions 
of  self ;  while  the  false  prophets  made  it  appear,  as  if 
those  who  would  join  their  church  and  submit  to  their 
rules,  would  be  saved  from  the  labour  which  the 
acquisition  of  self-knowledge  entails.  In  vain  the 
apostle  Paul  denounced  such  an  erroneous  doctrine 
and  said  that  he  was  preaching  not  a  belief  in  a 
person^  but  3.  faith  in  the  universal  power  of  Christ,^ 
and  that  those  who  preached  any  other  Christ  but  the 
Logos   were   teaching   errors   and   belonged    to    the 

^  Galatians  i.  12,  16. 


178  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

powers  of  darkness :  his  doctrine,  like  that  of  Jehoshua, 
was  comprehended  by  few.  He  was  denounced  by 
Peter  as  being  a  visionary,  and  even  his  epistles  were 
forged  and  falsified  for  the  purpose  of  deluding  the 
seekers  after  the  truth.^ 

Thus  while  the  true  and  eternal,  invisible  and 
spiritual  church  of  The  Christ  is  based  upon  the  Truth, 
the  visible  sectarian  *  Christian '  churches  upon  this 
globe  are  based  upon  a  falsehood;  and  while  the 
former  will  exist  eternally,  the  latter  will  exist  as  long 
as  the  powers  of  evil  prevail. 

The  doctrine  of  a  personal  extracosmic  deity  who 
can  be  bribed  with  sacrifices,  was  too  much  engrafted 
into  the  minds  of  the  Jews  to  be  easily  eradicated  by 
the  teachings  of  Jehoshua  and  Paul ;  and  when  soon 
afterwards  great  misfortunes  befell  that  nation,  they 
were  still  more  in  need  of  a  saviour  to  accomplish 
a  work  which  they  were  too  indolent  to  accomplish 
themselves.  Jehovah  did  not  fulfil  his  promises,  and 
the  claims  of  the  newly-made  Christian  god  were 
taken  into  consideration. 

*  What  shall  we  do  to  be  saved  ?  '  asked  the  poor 
and  oppressed ;  and  the  glad  response  was,  '  Join  the 
church  of  the  Nazarenes;  and  even  if  you  fail  to 
obtain  any  relief  during  terrestrial  life,  you  will  obtain 
untold  pleasures  in  heaven.' 

*  But  what  must  we  do,'  they  asked,  '  to  obtain 
such  a  heaven  ?  ' — '  Nothing  at  all,'  was  the  answer, 
*  but  allow  yourselves  to  be  baptised  with  water  and 
believe  that  God  will  save  you  through  the  power  of 

'  G.  Massey,  '  Paul  the  Gnostic  Opponent  of  Peter.' 


THE   CHURCH  179 

the  church  ;  for  he  has  resigned  his  authority  and 
authorised  the  priests  to  bind  or  to  loose  ;  he  has 
entrusted  them  with  the  keys  to  heaven  and  hell,  and 
if  you  follow  the  dictates  of  those  people  whom  God 
has  appointed  to  rule  in  his  place,  you  may  believe 
yourself  to  be  free  of  all  danger.' 

Such  an  advice  was  easy  enough  to  follow.  The 
sect  of  the  Nazarenes  grew ;  and  as  the  number  of  its 
agnostic  members  increased,  its  gnostic  members 
disappeared  from  sight ;  superstition  took  the  place  of 
knowledge,  mere  opinions  the  place  of  the  true  faith. 
The  ancient  doctrines  of  the  sages  contained  in  the 
books  of  Hermes,  and  the  prophets  which  had 
heretofore  been  guarded  with  jealous  care  from  the 
eyes  of  the  ignorant,  became  the  common  property  of 
those  who  were  unable  to  understand  their  meaning ; 
they  misinterpreted  them  in  various  ways,  divisions  of 
opinions  took  place,  and  sects  arose  like  mushrooms 
after  a  rainy  night,  and  the  desecration  of  the  sacred 
mysteries  soon  began  to  claim  its  penalty  in  rivers  of 
blood. 

To  the  huts  of  the  poor  and  into  the  palaces  of  the 
rich  penetrated  the  gospel  of  joy  and  salvation  made 
easy.  The  religious  systems  of  the  Romans  were 
decaying  rapidly,  because  they,  too,  had  lost  the  keys 
of  their  mysteries,  and  the  divine  and  intelligent 
powers  pervading  the  Universal  Mind,  which  had  been 
allegorically  represented  by  their  deities,  had  begun 
to  be  looked  upon  as  being  the  personal  gods  and 
goddesses,  whom  their  images  represented.  The 
people  believed  their  own  religious  opinions    to    be 


180  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

threatened  by  the  new  sect,  and  persecutions  began. 
These  persecutions  merely  served  to  strengthen  the 
Christians  and  to  give  rise  to  a  heroism  almost 
unparalleled  in  history. 

The  arenas  in  Rome  resounded  with  the  cries  of 
the  martyrs ;  Nubian  tigers  and  African  lions  were  fed 
with  living  men  and  women,  and  the  bodies  of  the 
Christians,  enveloped  in  combustible  substances  and 
set  on  fire,  served  as  living  torches  for  the  orgies  of 
an  insane  emperor ;  but  for  every  victim  that  died, 
hundreds  of  new  converts  joined  the  ranks.  While 
the  original  gnostic  Christians  had  attained  eternal  life 
by  that  mystic  death,  by  which  the  lower  self  becomes 
as  it  were  dead  to  all  attractions  of  matter,  while  the 
spirit  rises  above  the  plane  of  self,  the  new  converts, 
misunderstanding  that  doctrine,  imagined  to  gain 
heaven  by  sacrificing  their  physical  forms.  To  die 
'  for  the  sake  of  Christ '  and  for  the  benefit  of  the 
church  was  considered  a  privilege,  followed  by  an 
eternal  reward,  and  thousands  rushed  voluntarily  into 
the  jaws  of  death ;  thus  imitating  the  Indian  religious 
fanatics,  who,  likewise  in  consequence  of  a  similar 
misunderstanding,  threw  themselves  down  before  the 
car  of  the  Juggernath,  to  be  crushed  by  its  wheels, 
and  to  bargain  away  a  short  life  upon  this  earth  for 
an  eternal  enjoyment  in  heaven.^ 

'  The  doctrine  of  the  Hindus  is,  that  he  who  succeeds  in  seeing  the 
Dwarf  hidden  within  the  Car  of  the  Juggernath,  will  attain  eternal 
life.  The  '  Dwarf '  means  the  spiritual  principle  in  the  soul  of  man, 
and  the  '  Car  '  is  the  body,  and  it  is  perfectly  true  that  those  who  learn 
to  know  the  Divinity  in  their  souls,  while  living  in  the  body,  thereby 
attain  spiritual  consciousness.     But  the  ignorant,  misunderstanding 


THE   CHURCH  181 

The  church  grew,  being  continually  watered  by- 
rivers  of  blood,  and  it  became  a  power,  rivalling  the 
power  of  the  governments.  Kings  and  emperors 
watched  its  growth  with  jealous  eyes ;  and  as  they  saw 
that  they  could  not  suppress  it,  they  asked :  '  What 
shall  we  do  to  make  this  power  useful  to  us  ?  '  and  the 
church  replied :  '  Lend  us  the  power  of  your  arm,  by 
which  you  enslave  the  bodies  of  men,  and  we  will  lend 
you  the  power  by  which  we  enslave  their  minds.' 
They  accepted  the  offer,  and  made  the  pact  with  the 
church,  and  the  Evil  One,  whose  offer  Jehoshua  had 
rejected  while  in  the  wilderness,  signed  the  contract, 
putting  the  name  of  '  Christ '  to  the  document. 

The  Christians  ceased  to  be  persecuted,  and  the 
church  now  became  a  persecutor  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
being  assisted  in  her  work  by  the  powers  of  the  state. 
Europe  was  at  that  time  overrun  with  idlers  and  vaga- 
bonds, and  the  '  Holy  Land '  in  the  East,  which  they 
could  not  find  in  their  souls,  looked  inviting  for  pillage 
and  plunder.  Religious  fanatics  inflamed  the  populace, 
and  soon  Europe  emptied  its  dregs  upon  the  '  heathen,' 
and  murder  and  rape  were  committed  in  the  name  of 
Him  who  taught  the  religion  of  universal  fraternal 
love  to  humanity. 

The  God  of  the  Christian  church  was  as  impotent 

this  doctrine,  applied  it  in  a  literal  sense.  They  had  a  wagon 
constructed,  and  called  it  the  Juggernath,  and  as  it  was  drawn  through 
the  streets,  they  crowded  around  it,  to  see  a  dwarf,  whom  they  believed 
to  be  hidden  therein.  Many  were  crushed  by  the  wheels  in  their  vain 
attempts  to  see  that  dwarf,  and  as  such  a  death  was  said  to  be 
meritorious,  and  to  open  the  portals  of  heaven,  it  became  graduallj 
fashionable  to  commit  suicide  in  this  manner. 


182  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

as  that  of  the  Jews.  He  had  no  power  to  save  his 
worshippers  from  the  fate  they  deserved ;  but  as  he 
grew  in  size  he  increased  the  fanaticism  and  the 
greed  of  his  priests.  The  '  holy  inquisition '  was 
inaugurated,  and  faggots  kindled  by  well-fed  monks 
depopulated  the  country  and  filled  the  treasury  of  the 
church.  Millions  of  human  beings  expired  upon  the 
rack  or  stake,  in  dungeons  or  upon  the  battlefield, 
and  the  most  horrible  crimes  were  committed  by  the 
God  of  the  church  that  paraded  in  the  mask  of  Christ. 
At  last  a  reaction  began,  for  the  age  had  become 
ripe  for  a  change.  The  spirit  of  Luther  overthrew  the 
monster  at  Rome ;  but  while  he  succeeded  to  a  certain 
extent  in  driving  back  the  powers  of  darkness  that 
ruled  the  country,  he  could  not  remove  the  clouds 
that  prevent  mankind  from  seeing  the  light.  By  the 
side  of  the  gloomy  cathedrals  of  Rome,  he  erected 
churches,  whose  windows  admitted  more  light;  but 
when  he  entered  therein,  an  army  of  devils  followed 
him.  His  temples  are  built  upon  the  same  foundation 
as  that  of  the  church  of  Rome ;  namely,  upon  a  belief 
in  salvation  by  external  means  of  that  perishing  thing 
called  the  personal  self.  Both  churches,  with  all  their 
subdivisions,  are  based  upon  the  selfish  propensities 
inherent  in  the  semi-animal  nature  in  man ;  both 
appeal  to  his  selfish  desire  for  reward  and  to  his  fear 
of  punishment  in  the  problematical  hereafter.  Both 
are  resting  upon  the  erroneous  belief  that  Divine 
authority  can  be  conferred  upon  man-ordained  priests 
by  a  man-made  church ;  but  while  the  Roman  church 
— if  once  the  fundamental  falsehood  upon  which  she 


THE   CHURCH  183 

bases  her  claims  is  accepted — may  appeal  to  Logic, 
the  most  powerful  devil  in  man,  to  prove  her  other 
pretensions,  the  claims  of  the  Protestant  church  for 
divine  authority  to  save  mankind  are  not  so  supported. 
What  is  that  thing  which  these  people  desire  to 
save,  whose  existence  they  desire  to  preserve,  whose 
life  they  crave  to  prolong  ?  What  is  this  personal 
self  ?  It  has  no  self-existence  and  possesses  no  life 
of  its  own.  It  is  a  continually  changing  conglomera- 
tion of  principles,  endowed  with  a  continually 
changing  consciousness.  If  it  were  not  for  the  power 
of  memory,  which  connects  these  continually  chang- 
ing states  of  mind  with  each  other,  and  which  is  itself 
subject  to  change,  no  man  would  ever  know  that  he 
is  the  same  person  he  was  an  hour  ago.  The  only 
thing  in  man  which  is  not  subject  to  change  is  his 
consciousness  of  the  Eternal,  and  whenever  he  enters 
that  state,  he  forgets  that  he  is  a  person,  becomes 
unconscious  of  the  isolation  of  form,  and  is  only 
conscious  of  being  in  the  Infinite  Spirit.  These  are 
facts,  which  require  no  arguments  for  proof,  but 
which  every  one  may  know  by  reflexion  and  self- 
examination  :  they  are  self-evident.  But  this  con- 
sciousness of  the  eternal  needs  no  salvation ;  it  is 
already  safe,  for  it  is  the  consciousness  of  the  Christ ; 
the  only  state  in  which  man  can  be  immortal,  because 
it  is  not  subject  to  change.  Salvation  is  therefore  an 
internal  process  which  no  man  can  produce  for 
another,  but  which  each  one  must  accomplish  within 
himself.  To  enter  that  state  of  consciousness  in  the 
Eternal  is  the  only  possible  salvation  for  man. 


184  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

As  long  as  men  possess  no  self-knowledge,  they 
will  clamour  for  a  belief ;  as  long  as  they  possess 
insufficient  self-control,  they  will  crave  to  be  the 
slaves  of  a  master ;  and  priestcraft,  assuming  the  garb 
of  Religion,  takes  her  harp  and  sings  the  sweet 
lullaby : 

'  Come  to  me,  all  of  ye  who  are  troubled  with  sor- 
row ;  I  will  take  the  load  from  your  shoulders.  I  will 
save  you  the  trouble  of  thinking  and  of  mastering 
your  passions.  I  will  make  the  battle  for  self-control 
easy  for  you  by  thinking  for  you  and  assuming  control 
over  you.  I  will  take  care  of  your  thoughts  while  you 
live ;  I  will  give  you  bladders  to  swim  and  crutches  to 
walk  with,  and  you  will  rest  warm  on  my  maternal 
bosom.  I  will  lull  you  to  sleep  when  you  die,  and 
take  care  of  you  after  your  death.' 

Thus  the  siren  song  is  heard,  while  the  ship  glides 
along  upon  the  storm-tossed  waves  of  the  river  of  life, 
and  the  helmsman  listens,  and  dropping  the  oar  he 
falls  in  a  drowsy  sleep  and  indulges  in  fanciful 
dreams,  trusting  the  guidance  of  the  ship  to  a  form 
without  substance  or  power,  until  it  founders  upon 
the  rocks. 

Great  is  the  imaginary  power  by  which  men  are 
deluded,  and  which  is  called  the  authority  of  the 
church.  It  has  become  a  dangerous  rival  of  the 
governments,  and  the  day  may  arrive  when  the  latter 
will  curse  the  day  when  they  signed  the  compact. 

The  unreality  of  the  pretensions  of  the  modern 
church  has  come  to  the  understanding  of  the  more 
enlightened  masses.     They  have  begun  to  laugh  at 


THE   CHURCH  185 

her  claims,  but  the  church  laughs  at  them.  She  clings 
for  protection  to  the  skirts  of  the  goddess  of  fashion  ; 
the  goddess  gives  her  bright  ornaments  of  brass  and 
glittering  tinsel ;  she  furnishes  her  with  pomp  and 
elaborate  ceremonies,  and  men  are  used  to  imagine 
that  they  are  in  need  of  these  things :  they  borrow 
them  from  the  church,  and  the  latter  again  takes  hold 
of  the  leading-strings. 

And  while  this  farce  is  played,  the  true  church  of  the 
Christ  is  deserted.  Clear  and  strong  shines  the  bright 
sunshine  of  Divine  Wisdom  through  the  transparent 
roof  of  its  dome,  as  it  did  in  ancient  times;  but  the 
crowds  of  worshippers  that  used  to  crowd  the  halls 
have  deserted  the  temple.  The  sacrificial  fires  upon 
the  altars  have  gone  out  for  want  of  fuel ;  for  those 
who  used  to  worship  in  the  temple  of  Wisdom  now 
worship  at  the  altar  of  Self.  The  temple  of  Truth, 
wherein  all  humanity  unknowingly  live  and  whose 
altars  exist  in  the  innermost  centre  of  every  human 
heart,  is  the  temple,  where  the  divine  Redeemer  still 
continues  to  teach,  in  spite  of  all  the  Pharisees  and 
scribes  by  which  he  is  now  surrounded.  External 
churches  decay,  unless  they  are  upheld  and  supported 
by  man;  but  this  eternal  temple  needs  no  support 
from  mortals :  it  will  never  cease  to  exist.  It  asks  for 
no  favours  and  fees ;  but  the  condition  to  be  admitted 
to  it  is  an  entire  renunciation  of  self.  It  requires  no 
one  to  explain  its  doctrines,  for  the  truth  becomes 
clear  to  all  as  soon  as  they  become  able  to  see  it,  and 
all  will  recognise  it  by  its  beauty  as  soon  as  they 
draw  the  veil  from  its  face.     The  foundation  of  that 


186  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

temple  is  knowledge, — not  that  illusive  knowledge 
taught  by  mortal  man,  which  refers  merely  to  the 
illusions  of  sense,  but  that  spiritual  knowledge  which 
arises  from  a  realisation  of  the  truth.  Fear  and 
doubt  do  not  enter  that  temple,  nor  is  there  any  differ- 
ence of  opinion ;  because  the  truth  is  only  one  in  the 
absolute,  and  all  who  know  it  have  the  same  knowledge. 
There  are  no  inducements  held  out  in  that  temple  to 
cause  men  to  be  virtuous  but  the  beauty  of  virtue ; 
there  is  no  other  penalty  for  the  wicked  but  that 
which  naturally  follows  the  disobedience  of  the  law. 
There  is  only  one  supreme  Law,  the  Love  of  absolute 
Good.  When  men  become  satiated  with  the  worship 
of  self  and  of  living  on  salt  sea  fruit,  they  will  again 
return  to  the  Temple  of  Wisdom  to  partake  of  the 
water  of  Truth. 


CONCLUSION 

There  can  be   no   higher   wisdom   than   a   realisation   of    Divine 
Truth. 

In  the  preceding  pages  we  have  attempted  to  draw 
a  picture  of  Jehoshua  Ben-Pandira,  in  whom  the 
eternal  Christ  became  manifest,  for  the  purpose  of 
bringing  the  mind  nearer  to  an  intellectual  under- 
standing of  the  real  nature  of  Man,  and  the  soul 
nearer  to  a  realisation  of  the  presence  of  the  real,  living, 
eternal,  and  only  true  Christ,  the  Spirit  of  Divine 
Wisdom,  that  may  become  manifest  in  all  who  are 
receptive  for  it. 

Many  of  the  doctrines  we  have  attempted  to 
explain  are  not  new.  They  are  taught  in  Christian 
pulpits,  and  moreover  they  are  also  taught — but  in 
different  forms — in  the  pulpits  of  those  whom  the 
Christians  are  pleased  to  call  the  '  heathen.'  It  will 
therefore  be  readily  seen  by  the  unprejudiced  observer, 
that — while  denouncing  the  abuses  made  of  religion 
by  priestcraft — neither  Jehoshua  nor  ourselves  have 
been  attempting  to  overthrow  the  truth  of  Christianity, 
nor  of  any  other  religious  system.  We  have  attempted 
to  show  that,  while  the  Christ  whom  the  Christian 
sects  are  preaching  is  merely  a  human  being,  whose 
work  of  redemption  is  a  thing  of  the  past,  the  Christ 

187 


188  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

taught  by  the  spiritual  perception  of  Man  is  an 
eternal,  ever-present,  infinite  Power,  whose  work  of 
redemption  is  still  and  continually  going  on  within 
the  hearts  of  all  who  worship  the  truth. 

It  may  be  left  to  those  who  are  able  to  think,  to 
decide  for  themselves,  whether  or  not  a  belief  in  the 
existence  of  an  historical  personal  Christ  is  compatible 
with  their  own  intuition,  and  necessary,  sufficient,  or 
useful  for  their  salvation :  but  whether  such  a  belief 
is  justified  by  facts,  or  merely  insisted  upon  as  a 
necessity  for  those  who  are  not  yet  able  to  grasp  the 
deeper  mysteries  of  religion,  it  seems  self-evident  that 
if  such  an  historical  belief  is  made  the  main  pillar  of 
the  Christian  faith,  and  if  Christians  are  satisfied 
with  such  an  external  belief,  they  will  not  gain  any 
real  knowledge  of  the  truth ;  for  he  who  rests  satisfied 
with  an  adopted  creed  or  opinion  will  seek  no  further, 
and  remaining  idle,  his  progress  will  come  to  a  stop. 

We  have  attempted  to  show  that  the  events  so 
beautifully  described  in  the  Bible  are  allegories, 
representing  occurrences  which  have  not  only  taken 
place  in  the  past,  but  which  are  continually  taking 
place  within  the  psychic  organisation  of  man,  and 
which  will  continue  to  occur  in  the  future ;  for  God, 
Nature,  and  Man  are  one  undivided  whole;  the 
processes  going  on  within  the  Universal  Mind  are 
continually  mirrored  forth  within  the  mind  of  man, 
and  the  internally  acting  powers  of  Universal  Nature 
find  their  expression  in  external  forms  as  the  thoughts 
of  man  find  their  external  expression  in  his  physical 
form  and  in  his  external  actions. 


CONCLUSION  189 

Whether  a  beUef  in  an  *  historical '  Christ  walking 
upon  the  earth  in  the  shape  of  a  man  is  justifiable  or 
not,  it  can  only  be  useful  to  induce  mankind  to 
look  up  to  him  as  an  ideal  whose  example  they  may 
imitate.  To  enable  us  to  live  up  to  a  high  ideal,  it  is 
not  necessary  that  the  latter  should  have  been 
incorporated  in  a  gross  material  form  :  it  is  far  more 
necessary  that  our  ideal  should  take  form  within 
ourselves. 

It  is  one  of  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  occult 
science,  that  man  is  the  product  of  his  own  thoughts ; 
he  is  that  which  he  makes  himself  by  the  way  he 
thinks  and  acts,  for  his  external  form  is  nothing  else 
but  an  outward  symbol  of  his  internal  character,  modi- 
fied by  the  want  of  plasticity  of  the  gross  matter 
composing  his  body,  for  gross  matter  is  not  sufficiently 
plastic  to  change  in  form  as  rapidly  as  his  thoughts. 
The  matter  composing  the  soul  is  more  plastic.  If 
our  thoughts  are  continually  low  and  vulgar,  it  will 
become  correspondingly  degraded ;  but  if  we  are 
continually  thinking  of  a  high  Ideal,  our  Ideal  will  take 
form  within  ourselves.  If  we  are  satisfied  with  a 
belief  in  an  historical  Christ  without  seeking  to  cause 
or  enable  a  Christ  to  grow  within  ourselves,  such  a 
belief  will  not  be  merely  useless,  but  it  will  be  an 
impediment  in  our  way  to  perfection. 

The  object  of  true  religion  is  to  ennoble  mankind 
and  to  awaken  men  to  a  realisation  of  the  divinity  of 
the  Spirit  within  themselves.  Religion  in  its  theoretical 
aspect  means  a  real  knowledge  of  the  relations  which 
exist  between  man  and  the  eternal  Source  from  which 


190  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

his  Spirit  emanated  in  the  beginning-;  reHgion  in  its 
practical  aspect  means  the  union  of  man  with  God, — 
a  union  that  cannot  be  effected  through  the  external 
interference  or  permission  of  a  clergyman,  but  which 
must  be  effected  by  the  power  of  the  internal  Will. 
There  is  no  real  knowledge  to  be  attained  by  merely 
learning  a  theory ;  there  is  no  real  knowledge  unless 
the  theory  is  confirmed  by  practice. 

We  would  not  abolish  the  external  forms  of  religious 
worship,  because  forms  are  necessary  for  those  who 
live  in  a  form  to  lead  them  up  to  higher  conceptions 
of  the  truth  by  means  of  an  idealisation  of  form.s,  until 
they  arrive  at  a  state  in  which  they  may  realise  the 
existence  of  that  which  is  above  form  and  above 
expression  in  language  :  but  if  the  practice  of  a  religion 
is  not  at  all  in  accordance  with  its  theory  ;  if  the  form 
is  made  to  assume  the  prerogatives  of  the  living  spirit ; 
if  a  knowledge  of  the  truth  is  made  to  rest  upon  a 
belief  in  an  improbable  tale  of  an  external  historical 
event,  while  the  truth  itself  is  denied  admittance ;  if 
religion,  instead  of  being  used  to  ennoble  mankind,  is 
made  to  serve  the  temporal  purposes  of  the  churches ; 
then  will  the  living  spirit  depart  from  the  forms, 
and  the  forms  themselves  will  decay. 

Such  a  decay  is  almost  universally  observed.  Even 
those  who  cling  to  the  church  must  be  aware  of  the 
fact  that  in  visiting  the  churches  they  receive  nothing 
but  what  they  bring  with  them  to  the  church,  and  that 
a  sermon  is  only  effective  upon  the  audience  if  it  gives 
expression  to  the  sentiments  of  the  latter;  but  the 
masses  of  the  people  are  beginning  to  look  upon  the 


CONCLUSION  191 

promises  made  by  the  churches  as  being  drafts  upon 
a  bank  which  does  not  exist,  and  upon  the  *  places  of 
worship '  as  serving  rather  for  houses  of  fashionable 
resort  and  religious  amusement,  than  as  places  where 
anything  useful  is  taught.  They  instinctively  feel 
that  there  can  be  no  salvation  by  merely  external  means, 
and  having  been  misled  by  the  superficial  arguments 
of  our  modern  beer-house  philosophers  and  inoculated 
with  the  poison  of  scepticism,  they  have  begun  to 
doubt  the  possibility  of  a  life  after  the  death  of  the 
body,  and  therefore  they  make  no  efforts  to  save  them- 
selves and  to  develop  that  internal  power  by  which  they 
might  become  conscious  of  a  higher  state  of  existence. 
They  have  come  to  regard  life  as  being  its  own 
object  and  to  ridicule  the  idea  of  any  conscious 
existence  after  the  death  of  the  mortal  form.  They 
look  upon  material  comforts  as  being  of  supreme 
importance  to  man  and  the  only  means  for  the  attain- 
ment of  happiness.  New  luxuries  are  invented  every 
day,  and  they  become  to-morrow  indispensable  neces- 
sities for  existence ;  but  still  there  is  no  contentment. 
The  gratification  of  desires  merely  begets  new  desires 
as  long  as  the  power  to  enjoy  that  gratification  exists, 
and  thus  the  chains  which  bind  man  to  matter  are 
growing  stronger  day  by  day,  while  the  claims  of  the 
imprisoned  spirit  are  laughed  at  and  neglected. 
Christ,  being  looked  upon  as  being  merely  an 
historical  person,  a  thing  of  the  past,  is  sent  away  to 
the  garret,  and  that  higher  state  of  consciousness 
which  constitutes  the  true  Christ  in  Man  is  a  thing 
equally  unknown  to  the  layman  as  it  is  to  the  priest. 


192  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

The  world  swarms  with  reformers.  They  are 
shaking  the  foundations  of  the  Church  and  the  State, 
and  the  temples  are  tottering ;  they  resemble  a  swarm 
of  birds  flying  around  a  tree,  seeking  to  change  the 
nature  of  the  tree  by  picking  at  the  leaves ;  they  seek 
to  trim  the  branches  while  they  have  no  means  of 
changing  the  nature  of  the  sap,  and  therefore  their 
efforts  are  of  little  avail ;  they  can  merely  produce  ruin, 
but  they  cannot  build  up.  Men  have  become 
unnatural  and  crave  for  unnatural  things ;  external 
life,  instead  of  being  a  true  expression  of  the  internal 
thought-life,  is  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  latter ; 
words  are  no  more  the  expression  of  thoughts,  and 
acts  are  not  in  harmony  with  the  words. 

It  seems  that  the  only  way  to  restore  mankind  to 
its  natural  condition  is  to  assist  it  to  rise  up  to  a 
realisation  of  the  truth ;  not  to  establish  a  new 
religious  system,  based  upon  some  new  theory,  but  a 
religion  based  upon  self-knowledge  and  knowledge  of 
self.  To  do  this,  we  need  not  present  humanity  with 
some  new  dogma,  but  we  may  submit  to  them  some 
thoughts  for  their  own  consideration. 

According  to  the  Wisdom-Religion  of  the  ancients, 
aboriginal  Man  was  a  spiritual  power,  emanating  from 
the  Great  First  Cause  of  all  existence,  descending 
gradually  into  Matter,  and  becoming  more  and  more 
material  during  that  descent,  which  lasted  for  millions 
of  ages,  until  he  became  differentiated  in  corporeal  and 
gross  material  forms  of  two  different  sexes.  His  in- 
corruptible spiritual  principle,  the  foundation  of  his 
existence,  became,>so  to  say,  concentrated  within  the 


CONCLUSION  193 

innermost  centre  of  his  being  and  veiled  by  matter  of 
a  corruptible  kind.  In  consequence  of  this  *  Fall,'  his 
communication  with  the  world  of  Light  was  cut  off, 
his  '  inner  eye '  closed  to  the  perception  of  things  of 
the  spirit,  while  his  external  senses  developed  for  the 
perception  of  corporeal  and  external  things.  From 
this  state  of  degradation  no  mortal  man  can  save 
himself,  nor  would  any  man  ever  make  the  attempt 
to  rise  again  to  his  former  state  of  spirituality,  not 
knowing  that  such  a  state  exists  or  is  possible  to 
attain,  if  it  were  not  for  that  divine  Light  of  the 
Logos,  called  the  Christ,  continually  acting  through 
the  veil  of  Matter  upon  the  spark  of  Divinity  still 
existing  within  the  soul  of  man  and  stimulating  the 
same  into  activity  through  the  powers  of  Intuition 
and  Conscience,  attempting  to  induce  Man  to  seek 
for  that  higher  state  of  which  mortal  man  does  not 
know,  but  of  which  the  Soul  feels,  the  existence.  If 
man  conquers  the  living  elements  acting  within  his 
material  nature,  and  which  are  appealing  to  his  love 
for  animal  life  and  animal  pleasure ;  and  if  he  follows 
the  voice  of  Wisdom  within,  the  gross  elements  of 
his  *  Soul  '  become  gradually  refined ;  the  veil  of 
Matter,  which  hides  the  spiritual  world  from  his 
sight,  becomes  thinner,  and  at  last  he  may  arrive  at 
a  state  in  which  he  '  dies '  to  the  attractions  of  sense 
and  is  reborn  in  the  spirit.  This  freedom  from  the 
attraction  of  Matter  is  that  liberty  for  which  man 
ought  to  strive  ;  it  is  symbolised  by  the  Eagle  rising 
above  the  clouds  of  matter  and  enjoying  the  light  of 
the   Spirit.      The  true  building  of  the    Temple    of 


194  THE   LIFE  OF   JEHOSHUA 

Sol-Om-On  consists,  therefore,  in  the  tearing  down  of 
the  miserable  hut  built  up  of  erroneous  opinions  and 
perverted  tastes, — a  hovel  which  we  have  erected 
ourselves  by  our  own  thoughts,  and  wherein  we  dwell. 
It  consists  in  the  opening  of  its  walls  and  roof,  so 
that  the  Light  of  the  Truth  may  enter  and  drive 
away  the  darkness  of  its  interior ;  it  consists  in  the 
regaining  of  the  power  of  the  Spirit  over  Matter, 
— a  power  which  is  the  natural  birthright  of  immortal 
Man. 

There  are  three  stages  by  which  this  herculean 
task  is  accomplished  and  spiritual  knowledge  attained. 
The  first  is  known  to  all  men.  It  consists  of  the 
power  to  intuitively  know  the  good  from  the  bad,  the 
just  from  the  unjust,  the  pure  from  the  impure,  etc. ; 
it  is  called  *  Conscience,'  or,  more  properly,  spiritual 
Inspiration.  The  second  degree  of  receptivity 
consists  in  the  capacity,  not  only  to  feel,  but  to 
understand  intellectually,  spiritual  truths.  It  is  a 
state  known  only  to  those  who  have  attained  it,  and  it 
is  called  interior  Illumination.  The  third  degree  is 
only  attained  by  few,  and  the  great  majority  of  man- 
kind in  the  West  do  not  beHeve  that  it  exists.  It 
consists  in  an  entire  opening  of  the  spiritual  senses, 
by  which  spiritual  realities  become  objectively 
perceptible  to  the  soul  of  man,  and  it  is  called  divine 
Contemplation.  It  is  the  highest  kind  of  worship  and 
true  adoration. 

These  three  modes  of  perception  are  as  natural 
and  as  easily  comprehended  by  those  who  know  by 
experience  the  higher  nature    of    Man,  as    are    the 


CONCLUSION  195 

sensual  perceptive  powers  of  man's  semi-animal  body 
to  those  who  have  studied  his  perishable  form ;  but  to 
those  who  know  nothing  about  the  higher  nature  of 
man  and  who  do  not  believe  in  his  spiritual  powers, 
anything  higher  than  the  semi-animal  existence  of 
man  is  incomprehensible  and  incredible,  and  man's 
spiritual  powers  do  not  exist /or  them. 

There  have,  however,  even  in  the  most  ancient 
times,  up  to  the  present  day,  existed  men  in  whom 
this  power  of  divine  contemplation  has  been  developed, 
and  who  are  therefore  in  possession  of  superior 
knowledge,  and  if  we  desire  to  receive  information  in 
regard  to  spiritual  things  before  we  have  attained  the 
power  to  perceive  them  ourselves,  we  may  look  to 
those  men  for  instruction.  Not  that  a  belief  in  their 
doctrines  should  be  the  final  end  of  our  aspirations 
for  knowledge ;  but  as  a  traveller  who  has  gone 
through  a  wilderness  may  indicate  the  way  to  those 
who  follow  after  him,  so  may  the  teachings  of  the 
Adepts  serv^e  as  landmarks  and  guides  to  those  who 
wander  about  in  search  of  the  truth.  Such  a  man 
was  Jehoshua  the  Adept. 

Such  men  are  not  easily  to  be  found  within  the 
churches  of  to-day ;  for  ever  since  the  representatives 
of  the  churches  have  lost  the  key  to  the  understanding 
of  the  mysteries  of  religion,  and  begun  to  mistake  the 
forms  for  the  spirit,  churchianism  has  become  identical 
with  narrow-mindedness  and  dogmatism.  They  cling 
to  beliefs  accepted  from  each  other;  while  true 
Knowledge  is  free  of  foreign  opinions  and  lives  in  her 
own  realisation  of  the  truth. 


196  THE   LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

The  attainment  of  this  knowledge  is  that  glorious 
resurrection  from  the  darkness  of  ignorance,  by  which 
the  Spirit  of  Man,  bursting  the  shell  of  matter,  arises 
from  the  tomb  in  which  he  was  imprisoned  and 
regains  his  previous  freedom.  It  is  not  a  state  to  be 
expected  in  the  problematical  hereafter,  when  the 
physical  body  has  returned  to  its  elements ;  for  death 
of  the  body  can  merely  relieve  us  of  things  which 
have  become  useless  to  us :  it  cannot  give  us  anything 
which  we  do  not  possess  when  we  die.  The  object 
of  man's  life  is  to  rise  up  higher  in  the  scale  of 
evolution,  while  he  is  living  upon  this  earth ;  to 
develop  new  powers  during  his  contact  with  matter ; 
to  acquire  more  strength  and  knowledge  during  his 
terrestrial  existence,  and  on  account  of  the  latter ;  so 
that  he  may  live  in  a  higher  state  of  conscious- 
ness and  enjoy  the  possession  of  knowledge  of 
spiritual  truths,  which  he  has  acquired  during  his 
earthly  career,  unimpeded  by  the  sensations  arising 
from  the  sphere  of  illusions,  when  he  re-enters  the 
subjective  state,  the  state  of  rest. 

All  the  boasted  knowledge  of  the  science  learned 
in  schools  contains  no  real  knowledge  whatever.  It 
knows  nothing  of  absolute  truth.  It  is  merely  relative 
knowledge,  and  refers  to  the  relations  which  external 
objects  bear  to  each  other;  and  all  this  knowledge, 
however  useful  it  may  be  as  long  as  we  live  in  this 
world  of  external  illusions  and  'objective  hallucina- 
tions,' will  be  entirely  useless  to  us  when  we  enter 
that  state  in  which  those  illusions  do  not  exist.  The 
only  true  science,  which  is  really  useful  to  us  in  time 


CONCLUSION  197 

and  eternity,  in  our  present  condition,  not  less  than 
in  the  hereafter,  is  the  practical  knowledge  of  the 
Regeneration  of  Man. 

This  knowledge  is  acquired  neither  by  the  study  of 
theology  and  philosophy,  nor  by  moralising.  It  does 
not  depend  on  any  theoretical  information  in  regard 
to  terrestrial  or  celestial  things,  nor  can  spiritual 
regeneration  be  attained  by  leading  a  virtuous  life  for 
fear  of  the  consequences  that  are  likely  to  follow  if  we 
indulge  in  evil ;  it  can  only  be  acquired  by  a  realisation 
of  the  truth  within  our  own  selves.  There  is  nothing 
to  prevent  any  man  from  arriving  at  such  a  realisation, 
except  the  lower  tendencies  of  his  mortal  nature.  The 
process  of  spiritual  regeneration  therefore  involves  a 
continual  battle  with  this  low^er  self;  an  unceasing 
fight  between  spiritual  aspirations  and  earthly  desires, 
in  which  the  Spirit  must  gain  the  victory  over  Matter. 

Spirit  is  Substance,  Reality,  Unity.  It  is  therefore 
indestructible,  indivisible,  impenetrable,  incorrupt- 
ible, eternal.  Matter  is  an  Aggregate,  Multiplicity, 
Illusion;  it  is  therefore  unsubstantial,  divisible,  cor- 
ruptible, and  subject  to  continual  change.  If  man 
gains  complete  mastery  over  the  '  Matter '  composing 
his  own  constitution,  then  will  the  realm  of  spiritual 
knowledge  open  before  him,  and  he  will  become 
conscious  of  the  presence  of  Christ.  Then  will  the 
curtain  that  hides  the  sanctuary  of  the  spiritual 
Temple  of  Divine  Wisdom  be  rent  asunder,  the  Great 
Mystery  will  be  revealed,  and  Man  will  know  his  own 
saviour.  Then  will  he  arise  from  the  tomb  of 
Ignorance  and  walk  again  in  the  bright  daylight  of 


198  THE  LIFE   OF  JEHOSHUA 

immortal  Truth,  that  existed  in  the  beginning  and 
will  exist  at  the  end. 

As  long  as  man  does  not  know  his  own  divine  self, 
he  will  continue  to  seek  in  externals  that  which  can 
only  be  found  interiorly ;  as  long  as  he  has  not  found 
his  ideal  in  his  own  soul,  he  will  cling  to  external 
ideals ;  but  when  he  awakens  to  the  realisation  of  the 
divine  power  within  himself,  he  will  cease  to  look  for 
salvation  in  external  persons  and  things,  and  instead 
of  seeking  for  a  Christ  in  history  he  will  find  the  true 
Jesus  within  himself. 


PRINTED    BY 

SPOTTISWOODE   AND   CO.    LTD.,    LONDON 

COLCHESTER    AND    ETON 


DATE  DUE 

DEMCO  38-297 

"7^^""^^  Library 


6S2420  7  H33 
^'le/rfeofjehoshua  the, 

^  *5';m;mi,i „„,„„„ 

L^Q^^  00013  1427 


